Born of Circumstance
by Black Lighted Clouds
Summary: An old enemy is back and Alex is forced to live with Wolf for protection. Will some feelings come to light? Wolf/Alex Couldn't think of a better title, sorry, might change later. Rating may change. General because I couldn't decide on a second genre.
1. Chapter 1

_Wolf sprinted through the lopsided mountain manor and quickly as he could, desperately seeking out Cub – or Alex, as he now knew him to be called. Though he barely broke into a sweat, his harsh training conditioning him for these sorts of situations, panic was beginning to grip him. He had to find the boy; his conscience prickled as he recalled his brutal treatment of the teenager at Brecon Beacons, thinking he was just a brat with a rich daddy who wanted to play soldier. He knew he was wrong now, but who could've possibly guessed Alex had actually needed the training! For MI6 to use a teenager . . . _

_A shout of pain suddenly rang out, followed by high-pitched, mad laughter. Changing direction, the SAS officer slammed the door in front of him open, calling, "Alex!"_

_And indeed, there was the blonde boy he had been searching for, looking thoroughly beaten up as he lay slumped on the floor of what looked like a dining room, a huge, ape-like woman pointing a gun at him. The woman – Mrs Stellenbosch, he thought she was called – turned and pointed the gun at him instead, firing three shots._

_Intense pain that flared through Wolf's arm. Ignoring it to the best of his abilities and sending a silent, thankful prayer that his body armour stopped the other two bullets from burrowing into his chest and shoulder, he squeezed the trigger of his machine gun, letting loose a constant stream of bullets into the hideous woman who had attacked him. He allowed himself a small smirk of satisfaction as she screamed and fell out the window and over the edge before sitting on the floor heavily._

_He glanced up and a quick smile flashed across his face as he saw Alex get to his feet and run over to Wolf; he was relieved the boy hadn't been so badly hurt that he couldn't move. "I'm okay," he forced himself to say, trying not to move and cause himself more pain. "Came looking for you. Glad I found you."_

_"Wolf . . ." Alex murmured, concern shining in his eyes. Wolf closed his eyes, drawing on the remainder of his strength to assert that he really was fine, when something soft and slightly chilly touched his lips. Opening his eyes again, he stared, aghast, at Alex._

_'He just kissed me . . .' Wolf could only think dumbly. The boy stared down at his prone form, silently awaiting a reaction, when there was a yell from somewhere above them and the two of them looked over to the window, where the limp body of an SAS man fell down from the roof and lay still. Dark anger flashed over Alex's face; before Wolf could do anything, he grabbed his gun and was gone. _

Wolf's eyes shot open and he stared at his bedroom ceiling, the sheets tangled around him and clinging to his legs. He groaned and leaned his head back into his pillow, shutting his eyes. '_Not again_,' he thought weakly, as the drowsiness began to subside. That same memory had been replaying in his mind ever since the French Alps. What on Earth had the boy been thinking? Why would he do that?

'_Because he's a teenager . . ._' a treacherous voice whispered from the realms of Wolf's exhausted mind. The soldier had to agree. The boy may have been one of the most mature people he had ever met and he certainly handled himself well, but he was a teenager, with hormones and urges, he really couldn't be held accountable for his actions or feelings.

Wolf, however, could. As he had already acknowledged, Alex was just a kid, almost ten years younger than himself. Which was why it was completely unthinkable for Wolf to want another kiss and even more. And why it was a very bad thing that that was precisely what he desired most of all.

XXXXX

Wolf, Snake, Eagle and Fox were all standing in Alan Blunt's office, staring at the all-round grey man and glancing at the woman lurking in the corner as she sucked on a peppermint, wondering why they were there. The file they had received along with the summons to the office the previous night had told them nothing about what was expected of them. As if reading minds was one of his talents, the elder man fixed them squarely with his gaze and said, "I assume you all would like to know why you're here. Unfortunately, I deplore explaining things more than once and your mission, if you like, will also include another person, and I'd like to wait for him to get here first."

As if on cue, the door swung open and in walked a blonde teenager dressed casually and looking suspicious and cautious. His serious brown eyes widened in surprise and he stopped short as he saw the K-Unit standing in the centre of the room.

"Cub?" Eagle yelled as he spotted the boy. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same." Alex responded, the loud question snapping him out of his shock. He moved closer to the SAS men but retained a slight distance from them, as if weary of getting too close. He faced Blunt and demanded, "What's going on?"

Never one to mince words, the head of MI6 said, "Bad news, Alex. General Alexei Sarov is still alive."

The grim words meant nothing to the K-Unit but all four of them saw Alex's eyes widen once more. "That's impossible! He shot himself in the heart – he did it right in front of me. He can't be alive!"

Blunt peered at Alex, totally serious. "Yes, we thought so too. But apparently he missed his target and shot himself in almost the exact same place as you."

Alex unconsciously raised a hand and touched his chest, directly over the location of his wound, concealed by his shirt. The revelation brought out muffled gasps from the K-Unit, all but Wolf, who knew that Alex had been in hospital with his injury.

Alan Blunt continued regardless, "We believe that several of the Russian troops in his employ managed to escape and carried him off with them. He was badly hurt, which is why he has laid low for this long. But he is now fully recovered and that, considering his last plot, is a cause for concern."

"So you think he's going to try to kill me." Alex surmised. He frowned when Mrs Jones, took over, "Not necessarily. Remember, Alex, he had many opportunities to kill you when you were at Skeleton Key, but he didn't do it. Why?"

Alex shrugged, ignoring the SAS men, who were looking back and forth between him and the MI6 operatives like they were following a tennis match. "He said I reminded him of his dead son – Vladimir. He wanted to adopt me. He tried to kill himself because I refused his offer."

Mrs Jones nodded her agreement. "Exactly. He may want to kill you, most likely in revenge, you did thwart his plan, after all. But, perhaps even more dangerously, his obsession with you could still exist and if it does, it's almost a certainty that he will come after you."

She turned to the soldiers, who were mute in their shock and bewilderment. "This is why we've called you four in today. You've all received the file on Sarov, you understand the danger. This is why we'd like Alex to be placed in Wolf's care for the time being." She nodded at the man in question.

Alex's head snapped around to stare at Wolf before looking back at Mrs Jones. "Why should I burden Wolf? I've dealt with the General before; I can handle it."

"That is not an option." Blunt butted in curtly. "You need protection from this man, Alex. You are one of our best agents."

"Nice to know you care." The boy muttered before saying louder. "But what about Jack?"

Wolf's eyes flashed to Alex and he frowned. '_Who's Jack?_' Once again, Blunt answered him. "Miss Starbright will be informed and we have already arranged for her to return to America until further notice." Observing Alex's face, he added, "We've also spoken to the CIA and they will keep an eye on her to make sure none of Sarov's men can touch her."

Alex looked a little relieved at this news, but not by much. "Okay, say I go along with this, if you want me to stay with Wolf, why are they here?" he gestured at the other three men.

"Oh, charming," Fox muttered irritably. Alex waved at him dismissively, "You know what I meant, Ben."

Blunt shrugged once the brief interaction was over, "They are here because they are the only ones allowed to know of this situation. Considering that the four of them are good friends," he nodded his head at the men standing huddled together. "We would hate to force Wolf to lie to them."

Alex snorted disbelievingly. Blunt ignored it and continued, with something Alex recognised faintly as good humour in his eyes, "Besides, they are your SAS unit."

"Yeah, remind me whose idea that was again." Alex grumbled quietly, before looking sidelong at Wolf. "Do you mind?"

After a moment, Wolf realised what he was talking about and shook his head, saying, "No, it's okay. I understand."

Alex nodded and looked at Blunt again, "All right. I'll go along with this."

**A/N: Wow, the dream/memory was really long. I wonder how that happened . . .**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: A thousand apologies for my shameful neglect, I hope you all still enjoy this nonetheless.**

Tom gaped at him in unabashed shock, his blue eyes extremely wide. "Hang on, let's see if I've got this right," he said eventually, "some nutter who you thought was dead is still alive and is trying to get his hands on you?"

"Yes."

"Jack's in America and you've got to live with a soldier until the nutter is captured or killed?"

"Yes."

"And the soldier you've been stuck with is the same dickhead from Brecon Beacons you trained – and with who bullied you?"

"Yes."

"And you're expecting to see his three unit members who you think hate your guts?"

"Yes."

Silence. Then, "Can I come over?"

"No!"

"Alex, Tom!" the teacher growled from the front of the class. The two boys turned to face him as he scowled at them. "Kindly keep your personal gossip to yourselves until break time and return your attention to the equations on the board!"

"Yes, sir." They both chorused.

Tom put his elbow on their shared desk and his chin in his palm, staring at the written equations with a glassy-eyed expression. Alex kept up a better pretence of concentration, though his mind was miles away. He almost shuddered as he remembered the previous day. As if finding out a man with an unhealthy obsession in him and the theory of communism was still alive wasn't bad enough, he had to stay with _Wolf_ for protection? The idea was a terrible one. Not only was it awkward as hell, as clearly displayed by the oppressive silence in the car as they drove to Wolf's flat or the tension that hung between them as Wolf explained where everything in the place was, but Alex didn't know how to dispel said awkwardness. After all, he barely knew the man and during the brief periods they were together in the past, they clashed badly. Alex admitted that he had a sort of grudging respect towards the soldier, only heightened after seeing him in action during Point Blanc, but that didn't mean they were going to get along and, though Wolf hadn't been horrible to him the last time they had met, he got the vibe that the man still didn't like him very much.

Sighing almost inaudibly, Alex frowned minutely and tried harder to focus on his lesson, trying to push away the thought that he should've been put with Ben. At least with Ben, he would've stood a chance.

XXXXX

"Help me, Ben!" Wolf begged down the phone.

"For Heaven's sake, Chris, you'll be fine." His friend's slightly bemused voice informed him down the phone.

"No, I won't! You weren't here yesterday, it was awful." Wolf winced at the memory. He still recalled those searching looks the kid kept shooting him when he thought he couldn't see them, like he was expecting the soldier to turn around and thump him one or something.

"Of course it was, the first couple weeks are bound to be awkward as hell, you know that. How could it not be?"

"Oh God," Wolf muttered to himself. The prospect of looking after this kid indefinitely was daunting, to say the least. "Ben, he hates me!"

"No, he doesn't," the spy chided.

"Yes, he does! He keeps looking at me like he thinks I'm going to eat him or something, like he expects me to do something terrible to him when his back is turned."

He got no response from his friend. "What is it? Ben?"

A sigh reached him. "Look, Chris, Alex has had a pretty rough time of it with MI6 and whatnot."

"I know," Wolf said darkly, "they sent me his mission file so I'd know what to expect and so that he wouldn't be breaking the Official Secrets Act by talking to me about anything."

"Then you'll know how the mission to Skeleton Key affected him; the knowledge that Sarov is still alive and likely to attempt to abduct him is not going to help. I'm not surprised he's a little on edge." Fox's reasonable reply came.

"I know," Wolf murmured sulkily.

"It's not just that, though, is it?"

Wolf frowned as he responded, "What do you mean?"

"Something else is bothering you, isn't it? There's something you're not telling me."

The memory of soft, slightly chilly lips touching his own came, unbidden, to Wolf. Shaking his head abruptly to clear it, he coughed and said the first thing that came to mind, "I just don't think I'm the right person for the job, Ben. What about you? The kid likes you."

"Whether he likes me or not is irrelevant," Fox said gently, "Blunt wants him to have to best protection possible and you're a far better soldier than I am."

Wolf grunted lowly. Sensing his friend's lingering discomfort, Fox continued, "Do you want me to come over later?"

"No, it's okay. Give it a few days, yeah? I think he probably needs time to adjust to being here. How about Saturday or something? Come for lunch."

"Sounds good," Wolf could practically see his friend beaming down the phone at his proposition. "See, Chris? You're already adapting to being a dad."

"Shut. Up."

Fox was still laughing when Wolf hung up on him.

XXXXX

Alex swallowed hard as the dark blue door that led to Wolf's flat came into view. This was bound to be tense – again. Steeling himself, he opened the door into the hall and walked quickly up the stairs that led to two different doors. As he stared at the dull silver "2" on the entrance, it suddenly occurred to Alex that he didn't have a key. That meant a quiet entry was out of the question. Cursing mentally, he rapped hard on the wood with his knuckles.

Heavy footsteps reached his ears from behind the obstruction and then it swung inwards. A look of surprised flashed across Wolf's face before he demanded gruffly, "Why'd you knock instead of letting yourself in?"

"I didn't have a key."

"Oh. I'll have one made for you." Stepping back, he let Alex pass him and begin his trek up the set of stairs located in the flat itself until he came to the actually landing of the flat.

It was a nice place, Alex had to admit. Quite small, but nice. The hall he now stood in was the centre, coming off from the stairs to the right was a fairly large bathroom with a bath as well as a toilet and shower and at the end of the hall was a decently sized kitchen. To the immediate left of the stairs' landing was Wolf's bedroom, which Alex hadn't seen before; next to it was the living room and in the corner a moderate guest bedroom that he was currently being housed in.

Alex stood a little self-consciously in the middle as Wolf ascended the final stair, unsure of what to do. Wolf's feelings were harder to discern, but from the way he fidgeted next to him, loosely clenching and unclenching his fists, he assumed that the soldier was as ill at ease as he was.

Surprisingly, it was the older man who broke the silence. "Good day?"

Blinking in surprise, Alex said, "It was all right. Yours?"

"Same." The tension was still there. "Uh, I went shopping for some food today. Pasta okay for tonight?"

The teenager nodded, face unintentionally blank. "Yeah, sounds good."

"Ben is coming round."

Alex raised an eyebrow slightly. "Tonight?"

"No, on Saturday. For lunch. Just thought I'd give you a heads up."

"Oh. Thank you."

The two males loitered around for a few more moments until Alex said, "Well, I've got homework to do, so . . ."

Wolf nodded and walked passed his new ward into the living room, while Alex slipped soundlessly into his room, closing the door behind him, both breathing a sigh of relief and thinking '_That wasn't so bad._'

Alex liked his room. It was small compared to the room he had had in his Uncle's Chelsea place, but it was still pretty good. Wolf had gotten him a decent double bed that he'd put against the wall, a serviceable desk and chair under the wide window and a fair sized chest of drawers to but his clothes in. A two drawer bedside unit and a silver lamp sat beside the section of bed not jammed against the wall.

Tossing his school bag onto the bed, he rifled around until he found his maths book and pencil case – both he and Tom had been lumped with extra homework by their irritated teacher for talking during class. Settling down, Alex studiously began to work. By the time he was finished it was almost quarter passed six. He was delighted with the quantity of work he had gotten through, not just all his maths, but his French and a good amount of his English too. As he had spent so much time away from school, he knew he still had a lot more to get through, but he was reasonably confident that he'd be finished by the end of the week if he kept the same pace up.

He exited his room and strode towards the kitchen, looking for a glass of water. He stopped short in the doorway at the sight of the chaos that had enveloped it. Cooking utensils and food of all kind was discarded haphazardly across every available surface as Wolf – looking extremely bad-tempered – clutched what appeared to be a recipe book to his chest and glowered down at the dog-eared pages.

Alex blinked in surprise before saying hesitantly, "Wolf?"

The man in question jumped in shock, nearly dropping the book on the floor and spun around to face Alex, looking surprised to see him there. "Yeah?" he grunted when the shock faded.

Sweeping his brown eyes over the multitude o ingredients threatening to overwhelm the kitchen, the teenager asked, "Do you want me to do it?"

"Do what?"

Cocking an eyebrow wryly, Alex gestured at the disorder. "Cook dinner."

Wolf narrowed his eyes, a look vaguely resembling suspicion crossing his face. "You can cook?"

Alex nodded. "A few dishes, yeah."

Wolf hesitated, as if not sure whether to trust the boy with his meal. Finally, he muttered, "You do the sauce, I'll do the pasta."

Alex nodded and they set to work.

Less than twenty minutes later, the two sat on Wolf's black leather sofa, staring idly at the TV in the vain hope of finding something vaguely entertaining to watch. A slight frown touched Alex's brow as he noticed Wolf periodically glancing at his watch as he ate.

He hesitated before asking, aware that the question may not be a well-received. Eventually, however, his curiosity got the better of him and he asked, "Are you waiting for something?"

"Hmm?" Wolf asked absently, looking up at the boy before glancing at his watch yet again. "Yeah, it should be on about now."

Alex watched in mild interest as Wolf grabbed the remote and wordlessly scrolled through his channels before settling on Pick TV. As the familiar theme tune came on, Alex asked in surprise, "You watch Oops TV?"

"Never miss it if I'm at home." Wolf responded neutrally, though Alex detected the smile in his eyes as he placed his plate on the floor and settled back into the sofa to turn his full attention to the screen as the voice of Justin Lee Collins began to speak about what was on the show that evening.

They both watched in silence, punctuated by the fairly common laughter shared by the two house-mates. As it cut to an ad break, Wolf asked, "Do you watch that show often, then?"

Alex nodded as he picked up his eating utensils from the floor and temporarily placed it in his lap. "Yeah, I like it."

As he stood up to take his plate into the kitchen, he held out his hands for Wolf's. Looking surprised , the adult handed them over, calling to Alex as he left the room, "Leave them on the side, I'll wash up after the show."

Alex nodded an affirmative and carried on. Wolf smiled to himself, glad that he and his new ward had found at least one thing they had in common, even though it was something as simple and insignificant as a TV show.

**A/N: Just paving the way for some bonding. Hope you liked it! I won't be answering any reviews or the like for a few days as I'm going on holiday tomorrow – I just wanted to give you guys something before I left, as I've been putting it off for a very long time. Sorry :(**** Apologies for any and all mistakes in the work.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Enjoy :)**

The alarm clock blared annoyingly loud in the small bedroom, startling Alex out of yet another bad dream. They weren't bad enough to be called nightmares, or coherent enough for that matter, just flashes of people and places he had been on various missions. Though he was still grateful to escape them for another day.

Yawning loudly, Alex sat up and scratched his tousled blonde hair idly before looking around the room and had a momentary stab of panic as he tried to figure out where the hell he was. As the memories came back, he sighed and dragged himself out of the bed, stumbling blearily out of the room and narrowly missing the top of the stairway.

'_Stupid place to put it,_' he grumbled to himself, '_Anyone could fall and break their neck._'

Pottering around the tiny kitchen, he made himself and cup of tea and had just put it to his lips, heedless of the thick steam ensuing from it, when a loud "SHIT!" echoed through the apartment.

'_Wolf's up,_' Alex observed drily as the loud sound of a body falling out of bed reached his ears, accompanied moments later by the door wrenching open with a bang and heavy footsteps making their way towards the kitchen.

Seconds later the soldier marched into the room, a thunderous scowl set on his face. As he caught sight of Alex, however, he did a double take and the glare quickly morphed into shock, then recognition, then something vaguely resembling embarrassment. It was all rather amusing, really.

"Morning," the teenager said, trying to break the elder man out of his stupor as he hovered in the doorway of his own kitchen uncertainly, as if weary of entering.

It seemed to work as the man moved further into the room, reaching for the refrigerator and withdrawing a bottle of full-fat milk. "Morning," he muttered.

Alex moved out of the way as Wolf set about making himself some coffee; he knew all too well from experience that Wolf was not a morning person. His new guardian surprised him, however, by breaking the silence, "Good sleep?"

A series of memories that he would rather forget shot through his mind. Stifling them, he said, "Uh – yeah, fine. Yours?"

Wolf shrugged, "All right."

Alex nodded and finished his tea. As he did so, he felt a strange sensation creeping over him, like an instinct. Glancing up surreptitiously, he was surprised to see Wolf's eyes locked on him, dressed in his overlarge blue sleeping shirt and his grey boxers. He simply stood and stared, his eyes glossed over, as if a hundred miles away and yet still aware of the present. After a few moments of the intense, but unfocused gaze on his, Alex began to feel extremely uncomfortable. Fidgeting slightly, he said the first thing that came to mind, not registering how suicidal it may have been, "What was the racket in your room a few moments ago?"

Wolf snapped out of his daze and the dark look came back onto his face. After glowering at the boy for a little while, he saw fit to answer, "Overslept."

A look of abject horror came over his face as he spun on his heel to look at the wall clock above the cooker. "Ah, crap!"

Dumping his mug into the sink so hard Alex was amazed it didn't shatter, the soldier shot sprinted out of the room and all but dived back into his bedroom. Shaking his head in bewilderment at the man's antics, Alex placed his own mug into the sink, far more gently than Wolf had his and strolled at a sedate pace to his bedroom where he donned his school uniform and picked up his bag before hopping into the bathroom for the customary morning ritual of hygiene. As he emerged, he heard several severe curse words and lots of noisy thuds coming from the room. Raising an eyebrow silently at the wooden door, he headed for the stairs.

As he reached the first step, the door to Wolf's room flung open to slam on the wall besides it and the man in question charged out. Logic, if he had time to think about it, would've told Alex that he was perfectly safe. Unfortunately, Alex's instincts, finely honed over several extremely dangerous missions, did not heed logic and told him to prepare himself for danger. He spun around to confront his "attacker" at a blinding speed, but he was off-balance as one foot was still in the hallway and the other had already descended on the first stair.

Gravity took over and he began to fall down backwards, a hand scrabbling at the banister in a futile attempt to regain his footing. At the last second, Wolf, seeing what was about t happen, reached out and quickly wrapped his muscular arm around the smaller males waist and lifting him clean off the stairs and back into the hallway, squashed against his torso.

Wolf cursed himself inside his head, realising his startled his ward into nearly breaking his neck or worse. He felt Alex's chest moving against his side and he realised the boy was trying to regain the breath that had whooshed out of him when he slipped. Looking down at the boy he was still cradling, he was surprised to see his deep brown eyes staring up at him in something like wonder. For a very long moment they both stood there, Wolf's arm held protectively around the teenager, Alex's hand fisted in the white dress shirt the soldier had put on in his room.

Alex broke the silence, "Thanks," he breathed shakily.

Adverting his eyes as he felt his cheeks begin to grow hot, the man released his hold on his ward, muttering, "Your welcome. Be more careful in future, all right?"

"Yeah. Okay." His footsteps descending down the stairs and the front door opened and closed before the elder man dared look up.

Great. This was the second morning they spent together at Wolf's flat and in the space of an hour he'd managed to gawp at him indecently, have an extremely inappropriate daydream and almost caused him to kill himself on the stairs. What a wonderful start.

XXXXX

"Bye, Al!" James called as he rode away on his bicycle, Alex briefly pausing in his walking to turn and wave to his friend. He used to walk home with Tom when he lived in his Uncle's old house with Jack, but now he was sharing a flat with Wolf, he was closer to James place, so travelled with him. He liked the company.

As he drew closer to the building, his mind wandered back to the beginning of the day when he'd made a fool of himself with the stairs. He managed to stop himself from blushing at the memory, but he still felt the embarrassment clearly. Honestly, almost falling twice with an hour? How clumsy could he be!

And then there was the Moment after. It fully deserved the capital letter in his mind, when he was pressed against Wolf in an acutely intimate fashion. Not that he wasn't grateful to Wolf for helping him, but did the man have to hold him for so long? Though, he had to admit as he thought it over, he hadn't been in any real hurry to get away. He frowned as he stared at his trainers whilst walking, recalling the tingling sensation running through his body at the contact between the two of them. That had never happened before, not with Sabina, not with anyone. It was very confusing, and then there was the knots that emerged in his stomach as Wolf stared so intensely into his eyes . . .

Scoffing to himself, he rolled his eyes to the heavens. What on earth had gotten into him? He was acting like some of the lovesick and very irritating girls who flitted around his school talking about nothing but boys. He could only imagine what Tom would say if he knew what was in Alex's head. Or Wolf for that matter. Alex blanched as the thought occurred.

'_Thank God no mad genius has invented a device for telepathy yet . . ._' he thought, silently praying that, if anyone did do such a thing, he wouldn't have the misfortune to run into them (though knowing his luck . . .).

A man appeared in front of him. He was perfectly ordinary to look at, brown hair, brown eyes, sleepy expression and casual clothes. But there was something about him that put Alex's senses on high alert. Perhaps it was his imagination, but though the man's face appeared bored, his eyes seemed to gleam with a hungry anticipation that made Alex's hair stand on end. As he drew closer, he saw that the stranger had a very straight back with an almost militaristic air about him as he moved something your typical civilian did not possess.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex swore he saw someone move in the shadow of the large oak tree he had passed several paces back. Brown eyes flickering around, he noticed around flash of movement in the car park to his far left and another by the bus shelter just ahead.

Though all his instincts told him to turn and run, he had to acknowledge that this may be a false alarm and the shadows imagined or, as he thought about it deeply, MI6 agents checking up on him. He had never wanted Blunt to invade his life in that fashion more than he did at that very moment. Careful not to give his suspicions away, he frowned at his shoes once more, glancing up and around periodically, trying to project an air of irritable preoccupation as he drew almost level with the man.

"Alex Rider?"

'_Damn!_'

Jerking his head up, a surprised look on his face, Alex answered with a polite, "Yes? Do I know you?" as he mind worked a hundred miles an hour memorising his landscape, the route to Wolf's flat and mapping out potential escape options.

The man smiled, clearly trying to lower his guard with a false friendliness that was belied by his eyes, the hungry anticipation even more obvious than before, "No, but you do know my boss. He's an old friend of yours and he's very anxious to see you."

_'Like hell he's my friend!' _"You're going to have to be a little more specific; who is he?"

"Come with me and you'll find out," the enemy almost purred, attempting to look reassuring, as he seized Alex's right arm with surprising speed and strength. Prepared for just such a move, Alex twisted his wrist out of the man's grip with a self-defence move he learned in karate years ago and quickly executing a crippling lock on him. The man yelped in surprise and pain as Alex continued to apply pressure, almost forcing him to his knees, when he shouted, "Get him! Grab him now!"

'_So I was right . . ._' Alex thought grimly as three men burst from the edges of his peripheral vision, heading straight for him as he held their ally still with pain.

Quickly, he released his hold on the man and, as he began to stand up, his friendly mask lost in favour of an angry snarl, Alex spun on one heel to face the direction he had just come in, flicking his leg to the side and up to strike the half-crouching man in the side of his head so hard he was thrown to the concrete pavement where he made contact with a sickening _crunch_. As a red stain spread over the grey pathway, the heavily dazed man, still lying down, was rapidly bypassed by his sprinting companions.

Alex ran.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'd like to say I'm sorry for any mistakes, but frankly, as I'm giving you guys two chapters in one night and the amount of effort that went into this one . . . well, I just don't give a damn. That's now, though, tomorrow when I find some I'm certain I'll be horrified with myself. I always am :(**

Wolf paced back and forth across his hallway, glancing at the ill-placed stairs every time he passed them, waiting for the door to open. He was worried – honestly. He was _pissed_. What the hell was Cub doing? A mad man was after him, he was placed with an elite soldier for protection and he goofed around like this? He should have been home hours ago! He was messing around, that was all; there was no need to be afraid something had happened. No need at all.

So why was it so hard to convince himself of that?

Ducking into the kitchen to look at the wall clock for the hundredth time since he returned to his flat and found it empty, he cursed his own stupidity as well. He should've asked for the kid's mobile number . . .

XXXXX

Alex leant against the alley wall, trying to catch his breath as quietly as possible. The good news was that the one he had kicked in the face had evidently hit his head quite hard, as Alex had not seen him since the chase started. The bad news was he still had three others on his tail. They had chased him all round London for the better part three hours; it was almost eight o'clock at night and the sky was growing increasingly darker. As it did, Alex's fears grew stronger; he seriously doubted his ability to even find Wolf's flat in the dark, let alone lose his three would-be kidnappers. He had to do it while he still had light to work with and fast.

Pushing off from the wall, he began to stalk up the alley to the wire fence at the end, knowing it was dangerous to stay in one place for too long.

"Gotcha!" a gritty voice snarled in his ear as huge arms encircled him from behind and pinned his arms down.

Wasting no time, Alex shoved his forearms out straight to get the best leverage before slamming his right elbow down, hard, into his captor soft gut. The man crumpled as all the wind rushed out of his mouth, blowing his stale, rancid breath all over Alex's face as he turned his head slightly to look. As the man fell, he did not remove his arms, but he did accidentally loosen them, giving Alex just enough room to move so he was able to slam his elbow into the man again, this time aiming upward to his chin, forcing his head back and in doing so making his black out as he brain hit the back of his skull from the force of the blow.

Alex flung himself out of the limp embrace, tripping over the unconscious man's legs to go sprawling in the dirt. A male voice swore behind him and Alex rolled over to the side so he was on his back just in time to see a steel crowbar slam into the ground exactly where his head had been only moments before. As the enemy made to swing a second time, Alex flipped himself backwards to his to stand and face his opponent, his eyes darting around the alley, trying to spot something he could use as a weapon.

Suddenly, the man lashed forwards with the sharp end of his weapon. Alex jerked back just in time to avoid have his skull skewered, turning to the side as he did so the steel sliced across his skin instead of going through, leaving a non-fatal but painful laceration that bled profusely for it's size, dripping blood down his face. Backtracking down the alley furiously, Alex swiped a hand over the right side of his face, stopping the blood from dripping into his eyes and impairing his vision. The last man may have been an overconfident pushover, but this one was more dangerous; not particularly skilled, but he more than made up for it in speed; Alex was going to have to be clever and quick to win this one.

As his eyes darted around the alley walls, he spotted a huge dumpster leaning on the far wall behind his attacker. Laying a few feet behind him was a discarded stick of metal, rusted almost completely through so it was indistinguishable as to what it may have been previously. A plan formed in Alex's mind; it was risky, but what other choice did he have?

He continued to walk backwards, inching closer to the metal bar with every step. When he was close enough he lunged for it; his attacker ran a few steps forward before stopping short as Alex stood up again, the rusty bar clutched to his chest. Then the man began to laugh; even he could see what a pitiful weapon it was, it was so red with rust that one blow would probably snap it in two. As he was so caught up in his mirth, he failed to notice Alex inching closer until the boy had already thrown himself at the man. Startled, the thug lifted up his crowbar to chest height – just as Alex changed courses and dived through his open legs, swinging the old metal rod as he did to knock the man's left knee out and send him flying to the alley floor as he skidded free.

Jumping to his feet, he ran to the dumpster, dropped the disintegrating metal stick to the ground, planted both hands on the dumpster lid and hauled himself onto of it. With barely a breath in between, he jumped up and found a hand-hold in the brick wall, dust from the old dried cement raining down on his head as he hauled himself up the few extra inches he needed to the next handhold and then, finally, to the guttering that ran round the edge of the building. The old broken-down pipe gave way under his weight, but not until after he was able to grip the roof. With an almighty heave, he was up on the roof.

Alex ran across the roof, nearly falling multiple times as the wrecked tiles slipped from under his feet. As he reached the edge of the roof, separate from its neighbour by a gaping hole, a loud crash caught his attention. Turning his head, he saw that one of his two remaining pursuers had followed him onto the roof and was gaining on him, fast.

Turning back quickly, Alex leapt over the gap and kept running, hopping over every obstacle and keeping his speed at full-pelt until, at last, there were no more roofs. Alex paused, no idea what to do now. That was quickly solved when a loud _bang _split the air and the tile by his left foot exploded as the bullet made contact.

'_Shit, that one's got a gun!_' He briefly wondered why the others had not been equipped the same way before coming to the conclusion that whilst he was running for his life, it really didn't matter. With no other options before him, Alex took a deep breath and leapt off the room, seizing the gutter pipe as he went down; like the other one, it gave under his weight, but it slowed him down enough that when it snapped and he dropped, he only sprained his ankle instead of breaking it.

Hissing between his clenched teeth, he got unsteadily to his feet and sprinted, ignoring the pain shooting up his leg with every step. The sky had gotten darker since he'd last checked and it was harder to see where he was going but he kept running, the crack of a second bullet aimed at his back but miraculously missing by a few centimetres all the incentive he needed.

Lights blared up ahead, momentarily blinding him. When the white spots vanished from his vision, he realised he was looking at a road. Another idea came to mind and he began to slow down gradually from a desperate sprint to a light jog, from the distance, it appeared to his attackers that he was tiring, or else that he was finally giving into the pain his ankle was causing him.

Alex looked over his shoulder as he forced himself to slowly jog towards the road. The distance between him and the two men, the one from the alley having now joined the one from the roof, grew smaller and smaller as they ran at full speed after him. With relief, Alex saw that the one from the roof was returning his gun to his hidden holster; he couldn't risk alerting civilians to the attack with gunshots and anyway, why waste bullets when they were certain to catch him?

When they were now more than five paces behind him, Alex put on a sudden burst of speed, launching himself into the road. The one from the alley, just behind the one from the roof, stopped immediately. The one from the roof, however, enraged at the thought of the boy tricking him, continued to run. As such, he was directly in the path of the oncoming car that had missed Alex's back leg by a mere fraction. The driver had slammed on the breaks as soon as he saw Alex, but the car had been so close to the spot where they crossed the road and he was just at the speed limit of sixty miles per hour; it was impossible to stop. The front crashed into the man and he flew into the window shield, blood and glass flying in every direction, the breaks squeal deafening.

As soon as Alex looked back, he knew the man was dead. Over on the other side of the road, the fourth and final would-be kidnapper looked across the divide from Alex, to his dead comrade, to Alex again; then he turned and ran.

Alex sighed, immensely relieved that the ordeal was over for tonight. Now he just had to figure out where the hell he was and find his way back to Wolf's flat.

XXXXX

The clatter of the keys in the lock and the door swinging open jolted Wolf awake from the couch where he had apparently fallen asleep, waiting up for the kid. Glancing down at his wristwatch, he swore aloud when he saw that it was ten o'clock at night. Cursing angrily, he stormed into the hallway as Alex walked up the stairs.

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're playing at? Do you have any _idea _what the ti – !" Wolf stopped short as Alex reached the top of the stairs. His shirt was ripped, one leave hanging on by a thread and not much else, his blonde hair was streak brown with dirt, his face was drenched in sweat and blood dripped down the right side of his face from a cut just hidden by the hair hanging over his forehead.

Alex stared at him frankly as Wolf simply gaped, mouth opening and closing, unable to find his voice, "Sorry I'm late."

"Who cares about you being late? What the _hell_ happened to you?" Wolf yelled. Taking action, he reached over and grabbed Alex's right wrist, jumping in shock as Alex hissed in pain and tried to wrench his arm out of Wolf's strong grip. Turning the limb in his hand over to get a closer look, Wolf saw that the skin was red and swollen, the skin beginning to bruise. It looked like someone had grabbed the kid much like he was now.

Releasing the kid's wrist, he slip his hand down to grasp Alex's own and led him into the kitchen. Gesturing for the teenager to hop onto the counter, which he did, he dug around in his freezer for a few moments before pulling out a several sizeable bags of ice. Taking Alex's arm more gently than before, he wrapped the first ice pack around it.

"That should help with the swelling," he grunted, trying to seem in control so the kid wouldn't freak out. Although, he reminded himself, from how calm the kid seemed, and what he'd read in his file, he didn't really think he was going to.

Turning his mind back to the task at hand, he asked, "Where else does it hurt?"

Alex raised one eyebrow in a sharp look at his new guardian. Wolf rolled his eyes at himself and muttered, "Right, stupid question." From the state the boy was in, _everything_ was likely to be hurting.

Trying again, he lifted up the two remaining ice bags and said, "I've only got two more; which parts hurt the most?"

Alex lowered his eyebrow again, which Wolf took to be a good sign. He paused for a moment, then said, "My head."

Nodding, Wolf put down the packs and gently brushed the matted blonde hair off of the boy's face to take a look at the cut. At the initial contact he recoiled, but soon got control of himself and sat still. The blood had clotted already, so Wolf went to the cupboard under the sink and brought out a tea towel; after holding it under running water for a few second, he gently dabbed at his wards face, wiping the blood away and trying to ignore the strange look he boy was giving him.

When all the blood was gone, Wolf dropped the tea towel and picked up the ice pack again, holding it against the side of Alex's forehead to try and relieve some of the pain. After the kid's muttered, "Thank you," they stood silently.

_'I knew I should have done something,'_ Wolf growled to himself. He was supposed to be taking care of the kid and look what happened to him –

Wolf suddenly realised that he didn't actually know what happened. Clearing his throat, he said, "Aren't you going to tell me what happened?"

Alex glanced up at the elder man, then lowered his eyes and muttered, "Sorry." Taking a breath, he continued, "I was walking back with my friend James but we split up and a few minutes later I ran into a man. He knew who I was and he said I had to come with him to meet a "friend" of mine. I said no and he grabbed my arm so I got him off and he shouted for his friends. I kicked him in the head to make him stat down and then I ran while three of them chased me."

He stopped as he saw the look on Wolf's face; he was furious, he dark grey eyes darker than ever. Gulping slightly, he said, "I'm sorry, but I couldn't take on all three at once."

"What?" Wolf said gruffly, looking stunned at what the teenager had just said.

"I had to get them away from each other so I could fight one on one, it was the only chance I had," Alex continued, lowering his eyes so Wolf wouldn't see the fear in them as he recalled his encounter.

"Hey, kid, don't apologise for fighting back," Wolf said, as enlightenment stuck. "I'm not angry at _you_, I'm angry that they attacked you in the first place." He frowned as a thought occurred to him, "Why didn't you come back here? I could've helped you."

"I didn't want them to see where we were living," Alex said slightly defensively, "What if one of them got away? Then we would've been in even more danger."

Wolf grunted, acknowledging the boy's point, though he hated the thought of him facing four full-grown men by himself. Alarm sparked through him as something vitally important occurred to him, "Where are they? The men who attacked you."

"Two of them are dead, one ran away and I'm not sure about the other guy, but he was pretty badly hurt and in no condition to come after me."

A stab of fear wormed its way through Alex's gut as he saw Wolf staring at him, face completely blank. "What?" he demanded, though his voice shook slightly.

A slight smirk curled the corner of Wolf's lips. Reaching out, he ruffled Alex's blonde hair in an uncharacteristically affectionate gesture, "You're lethal, kid, you know that?"

"Did you just compliment me?"

"Don't get used to it; it's not going to happen often."

Alex offered him a tired smile at that which Wolf returned. Turning gruff again, he threw the now-melting ice bags into the sink and said, "All right then, heart-warming moment over; shower and get to bed. I'll get you some pain killers."

Alex grinned, jumping down from the counter and trying to hide a wince as the movement sent a dull wave of pain up his aching, bruised legs. "Thanks, Wolf."

He was halfway out the door when the man answered him, "Chris."

Surprised, Alex turned around to face the elder man, "What?"

"That's my name: Chris. Good night, Alex."

"Good night . . . Chris."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey guys! I got such a good reaction over updating twice in a day and it gave me such a warm fuzzy glow inside that I've decided that I will definitely update more often. I've only got three weeks or so of my summer holidays left, so I am determinied to get up at least another three chapters. But don't quote me on that *sheepish grin* On with the fic!**

**Something I just want clear up with you guys first: this fic is set about a fortnight or so after** **Crocodile Tears, okay? I may be able to fix the timeline so it finishes well before the beginning of Scorpia Rising (which I will not be finishing until I finish this fic because I don't want my plotline to change so no one spoil it for me!) but it's going to be difficult, especially as I've got the sequel Born of Coincidence, to consider as well.**

**Okay, now we can continue with the fic.**

Alex bit his lip to stop from grunting in pain as he hobbled out of P.E. class. Though it was three days after the attack, his ankle was still swollen and extremely painful; in was all he could do not to lean on Tom for support. As some careless person kicked it accidentally as they sprinted past, full of the eager joy that only a Friday afternoon could bring to a school kid, he cursed silently and reminded himself to thank Wolf again for writing him a not to get out of P.E., even if it had gotten him some rather dirty looks from the teacher, who walked away muttering something about upcoming football games.

"Are you heading back my way?" James suddenly asked, his gym bag slung over one shoulder as he fell in step with Alex. "Or is your new guardian coming to pick you up again?"

Alex tried not to blush as he said, "He's coming to get me again."

For the last three mornings and afternoons Wolf had escorted him to and from the school gates, acting more like a bodyguard than a guardian. Alex was more than a bit confused and touched by this sudden behaviour, though he also somewhat resented being treated like a helpless child.

James, not noticing his inner dialogue, nodded absently and said, "Can't blame him, I guess. I mean, he's bound to be worried after you got mugged."

Alex exchanged a meaningful glance with Tom, who of course knew the full truth, at the reminded of the latest story he had to make up to maintain his cover.

"So, Alex, when can we come over?" Tom suddenly asked.

Alex jerked his head to face his friend, surprised. He opened his mouth with an angry scowl (that he absolutely had not picked up from Wolf) and prepared to deliver another speech, when James but in. "Yeah, can we Alex? I'd quite like to see this new place of yours."

Alex closed his mouth with a snap, aghast. Unsure, he said, "Well . . . I'd like to have you guys over, but I don't think that's a good idea, my new guardian –"

"He seems like a good guy," James cut in, "After all, he's taking the time out of work to look make sure you get to school and back home in once piece; he can't be that bad."

After a beat of silence, he added, "After all, we don't see you that often anymore."

Alex almost stopped in his tracks, guilt squirming in his chest. It was only now he registered the slight hurt in James' voice. He hated lying to his friend, even though he knew it was necessary and he did it convincingly enough. But James wasn't stupid, he knew something was going with Alex that he wasn't telling; and he probably knew that Tom was aware of what was happening, of course he felt left out and hurt.

_'Well, having them over occasionally couldn't hurt . ._ .' Alex thought, though he was reluctant to let his friends over; what happened if K-Unit came by? Besides, he doubted Wolf would be too happy to have even more teenagers in his flat.

"Okay, I'll ask him when it's okay to have you guys round." Alex said far more confidently than he felt. His instincts were very rarely wrong and right now they were screaming, '_Danger! Danger!'_ at him.

"Good, thanks Al." James said, brightening up considerably. "Hey, there he is now!" he added, gesturing in the general direction of Wolf's car.

"How do you know that?" Tom asked, puzzled.

"I saw him earlier, dumbass."

"Go home, James!"

"That the best retort you can think of?" James shook his head in mock disappointment and, ignoring the blue-eyed boys glare, cycled away.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Alex turned on Tom, furious. "What did you do that for?"

"Do what?" Tom false look of innocent confusion didn't fool Alex for one second. Folding his arms, glare firmly in place, he waited. Five seconds later, Tom cracked.

"Oh come on! How else was I gonna get an invite?"

Alex sighed, exasperated, "Tom, you _know_ why I can't do that."

"You're just paranoid."

"In my line of work, it pays to be paranoid."

Tom grinned, Alex's glare having no effect on him whatsoever after so many years of being subjected to it. "Well, you haven't got choice now; you have to invite us over, nothing you can do about it."

"I can hurt you."

"That won't help you."

"It'll help me feel better."

Tom dodged out of the way of Alex's fist just in time, wide smile still on his face. "You haven't got time to assault me now; you don't want to keep Military Dude waiting."

"As much as I want to strangle you right now, that's very true," Alex conceded, turning on his heel to head in the direction of the waiting soldiers car. "And it's Wolf, not Military Dude!"

In his wake he heard Tom laughing.

Wolf drove an old red and silver pickup truck, still in excellent condition from his constant care, despite its years. The well-oiled door barely creaked as he opened it and hopped into the vehicle. Wolf, who had been resting his upper body of the steering wheel, jumped slightly at Alex's sudden arrival. He covered it extremely well, casually asking, "How was your day?"

"It was all right, pretty boring really," Alex answered as he fastened his seat belt before turning to face the man, "Yours?"

Wolf shrugged as he turned on the ignition and reversed out of his parking spot to head for the main gates. "'Bout the same as yours from the sound of it."

Alex hesitated before asking, "I was wondering . . . what do you actually _do_?"

The man glanced sharply at the boy out of the corner of his eyes before returning them to the road once more, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I know you're in the SAS, but what are you doing right now?"

"Office work," Wolf grunted. When Alex stayed silent, he added, as if reluctantly, "I sort out things like deployment notices, requests for leave, that kind of thing."

"I see."

The two males sat in silence for most of the journey until Wolf broke it, "Who were those two boys you were talking to?"

Alex's eyes flickered towards the man in surprised. Slowly, he said, "My friends, Tom and James."

Wolf nodded. "So, if they're your friends, why did you try to hit the one with black hair?"

"Because he was being an idiot."

Wolf burst out in laughter over this statement, startling Alex once more. "Okay, I get the picture," he said when he calmed down. "Made any plans with them?"

Alex frowned, "Uh, no, why?"

Wolf shrugged. "I read your file, you don't spend a lot of time at school. It might do you some good to spend more time with people your own age for once."

Alex hesitated as he saw the opening, then remembering the ddejected look on James face the last time he had to cancel their plans, he said, "Well, they did ask if they could over your place some time." Alex paused before adding, "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Just tell me when. But not tomorrow," Wolf said idly.

"Why not tomorrow?"

Wolf frowned at him, "Did you forget? Ben's coming."

Alex smiled.

XXXXX

Bang, bang, _bang!_

Alex winced as, yet again, Wolf slammed down the wooden roller on the dough as if it caused him personal injury. When he felt his temples beginning to throb, he put down the knife he was using to chop peppers and said, "For God's sake Wolf, it's uncooked bread, not a knife-wielding maniac! Go easy on it, would you?"

The soldier looked round in surprise at his ward. "What? You told me to make sure it was all even and that I had to be firm with it."

"Yeah, firm, not deadly."

Alex was saved by the slightly irritable Wolf's retort by the doorbell. Quickly wiping his hands with a wet cloth, he hurried out of the kitchen and down the stairs. As the door opened, he found himself dragged onto a warm, muscular body, the chest muffling his shouted protests.

"Alex! How are you? Wolf treating you okay? Injuries all healed? How's school?"

"Git oof mm."

"Hmm?" Looking down at the mop of blonde hair, Fox realised he was suffocating the boy and immediately released him. "Oh, sorry Alex! I got carried away, I was just really happy to see you! What did you say?"

"I said "get off me" but that's a little redundant now. Do you always ramble like that?" Alex asked as he tried to inconspicuously suck large gulps of air back into his lungs.

"I don't ramble." Fox said, frowning at his young friend.

"Yes, you do!" Wolf's voice called from the kitchen. "Let him in, Cub! If we don't he'll only scratch at the door for hours on end until we feed him."

"Hahaha!" Fox said sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he stepped over the threshold and began to trek up the stairs. "Lucky you, Alex; you get to listen to the rapier wit that kept up the morale of the Unit back on our missions twenty-four/seven. You must be thrilled."

"Shut up!"

Fox grinned surreptitiously at Alex.

XXXXX

The lunch went without a hitch, apart from when Wolf and Fox began a rather immature fight with a pair of forks while Alex simply watched from his seat with a bizarre range of emotions on his face: amusement, shock and vague horror.

Now it was almost eleven-thirty and the two men sat on the living room couch nursing cans of bear. As soon as Alex had begun to yawn at eleven o'clock, Fox had ordered him to go to bed, much to Wolf's amusement and Alex's irritation, but he'd been too tired to protest.

Now, with the boy out of the way and the movie playing in the background, Fox turned to his friend, "Right, now be honest Chris, 'cause I'll know if you're lying – "

"Bloody spying know-it-all," Wolf muttered. Fox ignored him.

"– how are you coping?"

Wolf frowned, slightly uncomfortably. "What are you talking about?"

Fox gave an indicative jerk of his head.

"The kid? He's fine, no problems with him, apart from that little," here his voice turned gruffer, darker, "incident a few days ago. He basically takes care of himself, really, just sits in his room and does his homework, helps me cook . . ."

Fox raised an eyebrow, the humour returning to his face briefly. "Okay, fine, _I_ help _him_ cook."

"That sounds more accurate."

"Shut up. I barely even see him if truth be told, besides when I take him to school and when we watch Oops TV together."

A look of slight astonishment crossed Fox's face, "You mean, you two actually do things together when you don't have too?"

Wolf fidgeted uncomfortably, feeling oddly annoyed and strangely guilty because of the incredulous statement. "Well, not really . . . just that."

Fox nodded, looking preoccupied. Silence descended on the room for several moments as the soldier-turned-spy seemed to wallow in his thoughts. Wolf left him to it. A few moments later, Fox broke out of his stupor and said, "Do you like him?"

Wolf choked on his beer at the sudden question. "What?"

"Do you like him?"

Wolf pondered on that for a moment. He's spent less than a week with the kid in his house, he barely saw him, barely knew him. Wolf was about to answer that that was impossibly to answer right now, how could he say whether he did or did not in so short a time and with so secretive a person, but then he remembered the feelings swirling inside of him when the kid didn't come home for hours on end, how he'd felt when he saw all those wounds . . .

Wolf looked Fox in the face. "Yeah. Yeah, I do like him. But I don't know him very well."

Fox hesitated then said in a rush, "Would you try to get to know him? Even a little bit? His old guardian was with him for years and he really trusts her, but with her in America and the situation with Sarov hanging over his head and trying to catch up with all his school work, the kids got to be feeling pretty pressurized at the moment. He needs to have some fun, you know? It's not good for him to have to put up with all this at his age."

"Okay, okay, mother hen, calm down. I'll figure something out; I've already told him to invite his friends over." _'Well actually he asked, but I gave permission, which is just as good!'_

"Good," Fox smiled, sipping on his beer happily. "You sure you're okay with that?"

"Bonding with my ward, what could be better? I can hardly contain my excitement."

"Haha, you're hilarious."

"I know."

Looking at his watch, Wolf counted silently. He got up to five when Fox suddenly yelled, "Hey, I'm not a mother hen!"

"Took you long enough."

**A/N: I get the terrible feeling that this isn't as good as my other chapters. If so, I apologise profusely.**


	6. Chapter 6

Wolf had come to the conclusion that Fox was an idiot.

_'Bonding he says, spend some time with the kids he says . . .'_ Wolf thought to himself angrily as he fidgeted on the couch, fully aware that Alex's eyes were darting to him every twenty seconds or so. '_Easier said than done!_'

It was Sunday, the day after Fox's visit to the flat. The morning had started off well enough – having both had too much to drink, Fox had slept on Wolf's couch for the night, complaining in the morning about having to curl up and wake up stiff and aching, though Wolf was of the personal opinion that he was just being a drama queen – they'd had far worse conditions on missions, really.

After breakfast (which Wolf prepared all by himself, thank you very much) Fox had cheerfully walked out the door, calling goodbye to the roommates and giving Wolf a very thinly veiled comment about "enjoying their time together". He obviously believed it to be surreptitious, but from the way the teenager stared after him, eyebrow raised incredulously, Wolf would say that he failed spectacularly.

Which led to his current dilemma. It was all well and good telling Wolf to "bond" with his young ward, but what the hell was he supposed to do? Take the kid to the shooting range? That would be considered inappropriate (and wasn't that ironic). Take him to the park? The kid seemed a little too old for that and though he'd never said anything, Wolf knew that Alex hated any kind of insinuation that he was a child (even though he is). Besides, what could they do there? Feed squirrels and stare at the world from a bench? Not exactly a thrilling pastime.

So, with no ideas on what to do at all, the pair of them had ended up on Wolf's leather couch, watching Jeremy Kyle, the air heavy with an awkward silence that neither of them knew how to break. The thought was so depressing that Wolf almost wanted to cry. And those frequent glances were making him feel like a bug under inspection.

The soldier nearly jumped out of his skin when someone hammered on the door. Standing quickly and attempting to regain his composure, he stormed down the stairs and swung open the door, his most menacing glare in place.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear, have I caught you at a bad time?"

Wolf's glare faltered and was replaced by an uneasy, though genuine smile. "Mrs Walker; what can I do for you?"

Mrs Walker was Wolf's neighbour; she lived in the ground floor flat in the next building. She had lived there alone since her husband died a few months before he moved in to his flat and her daughter and grandchildren had emigrated to New Zealand some years ago. The woman was seventy-eight and often had problems with her flat that she asked Wolf to fix; he'd never had the heart to say no.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but some silly teenager damaged my garden fence and it's a bit difficult for me to patch up; would you mind giving me a hand?"

"No problem. Give me five minutes, I'll be right round."

The old lady smiled, showing the gap where many of her yellowing teeth had fallen out. "Thank you, that's very kind."

Wolf closed the door as she wandered back to her place and jogged up the stairs, jumping into his bedroom and rummaging through his closet to get his boots.

"Who was that at the door?"

Wolf jumped at the voice, swearing as he banged his head on the door frame of the closet. Turning, he saw Alex standing at the threshold of his bedroom, looking vaguely confused at the sudden change in his guardian. "It was old Mrs Walker who lives next door; she needs some help in the garden."

"Shall I come too?"

Wolf looked up in surprise at the offer, then, figuring the kid must be bored out of his wits, shrugged and said, "If you want to. It'll be a while though."

"Why? What's the problem?" Alex asked, briefly raising his voice to be heard as he followed Wolf's example and went into his room to retrieve his trainers.

"She came over saying her fence needed fixing, but that means I'll have to fix the bits that are fine as well and while I'm round there she'll find another couple of jobs for me to do."

"She does this often, then?" Alex enquired as he reappeared, sitting down to pull on his shoes.

"I think she just likes the company; she's a widow and the rest of her family lives in New Zealand." Wolf answered as he rose to his feet at the same time Alex did, leading the boy down the stairs and out the door.

XXXXX

As it turned out, unsurprisingly, Wolf was right about Mrs Walker's request. The fence had a massive hole in it where someone had clearly put their foot through and then run off, which Wolf was currently patching over with a slab of wood, a few nails and plenty of under-his-breath swearing.

Alex, meanwhile, was preoccupied with the rest of the garden; as it was at the bottom of a flat building, it was extremely small, but it clearly had been neglected for some time. Alex was currently attempting to remove a large clump of weeds that was choking a rose bed, cursing angrily whenever his hand slipped and the thorns scratched him.

"How you doing over there, Cub?"

Alex glanced up through his hair at the man, who was leaning against the fence, pausing for a moment. "Well enough. You?"

"Same. Only two injuries so far." He held up his left hand, which had been holding the wooden plank in place and was bleeding rather badly from where he'd scraped it with the hammer.

Alex frowned at the sight, rising to his feet, "Do you want me to hold it in place while you put in the nails in?"

Wolf nodded, looking rather relieved. Alex guessed that he had been about to ask if his ward would do exactly that. As they struggled with the fence and Alex tried not to visibly flinch as Wolf attacked it with the hammer (which came way too close to his fingers for his liking), neither of them noticed Mrs Walker standing in the doorway, watching them with a smile.

Once the hole had been mended, not without a great deal of argument about whether or not it was in the correct position, she called to them, "Come in, boys – I made tea!"

Nodding gratefully, Wolf led Alex into the flat towards the small kitchenette, where, somehow, the woman had managed to squeeze a round table with four chairs in the middle. Alex wondered vaguely how she managed to work around the obstruction to make meals as he sank into a seat besides Wolf.

"There you are," the woman said cheerfully as she placed three mugs on the table and took a seat opposite them. "I can't say how grateful I am to you for this, and all the other help you've given me in the past, Chris."

"Not at all, Mrs Walker." Wolf replied smoothly, smiling amicably as he sipped from his mug. Alex stared down into his brew and tried not to laugh.

"And of course it was very kind of you to help as well, young man. I didn't catch your name . . . ?" Mrs Walker probed, giving Alex what he felt was a unnecessarily penetrating stare.

"Alex, Mrs Walker." He answered, politely.

"So, when did you two boys get together?"

Wolf's head jerked up in shock and Alex choked on his tea. It was Wolf who answered, rather shakily, "E-excuse me?"

'_Did he just stutter?_' Alex thought, giving Wolf an odd look sideways.

"You know, become an "item" or whatever it is you kids are calling it these days . . ."

"We're not a couple!" Wolf denied vehemently, face flushing a furious red.

Mrs Walker's face was the picture of surprise. "Really? Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you, I just assumed, what with the pet names and everything – "

"_Pet names?_" Alex interrupted suddenly. "What pet names?"

"Wolf and Cub, of course." Mrs Walker answered calmly, as if trying to explain something very simple.

"They're not pet names, Mrs Walker." Wolf stated firmly.

The old lady gave him a rather sly smile and said, "If you say so, dear."

Wolf and Alex exchanged an anxious look, completely clueless as to what they should do or say.

Fortunately, Mrs Walker saved them the trouble, "Well, if you're not a couple, then what are you? It's not every day that a young man takes in a teenager. And I've never seen you visit Chris before now."

"I'm his new guardian," Wolf responded cautiously.

"New guardian?" Mrs Walker frowned, looking rather perplexed. Her next question was directed at Alex, "You're in Care?"

Alex hesitated briefly, before saying, "Yes. Mrs Walker. It's a situation I'd rather not talk about, if that's okay with you."

"Of course, dear, whatever makes you comfortable." The woman clucked in a motherly fashion, reaching across the table to pat Alex's hand affectionately. Alex squirmed in a slightly agitated manner at the look of pity and curiosity she directed towards him.

Wolf, noticing this, stood up and said in a forcedly jovial tone, "Well, we better tackle the rest of that garden now. Come on, Cub."

Wolf looked away as Mrs Walker shot him another insinuating look at the name, almost missing Alex's grateful smile as the boy got his feet and followed his out of the kitchen.

XXXXX

Another two hours later, the weeds were all gone and the garden was looking a lot better than it had when they had first gone over. As they walked towards Wolf's flat, Mrs Walker stood in the doorway of her house, waving after them. Wolf could feel her bespectacled eyes boring holes into his broad back throughout the short journey.

Once in the living room, they both collapsed onto the couch, too lazy to have a shower at that particular moment. Wolf reached for the remote automatically and clicked on the TV to some random cookery show that neither of them paid any attention to as they tried desperately not to think about what the old woman had guessed about them.

After a few minutes, Wolf broke the silence between them, "Thanks for helping me with all that."

"Hm?" Alex looked at him for a moment, then switched his gaze back to the TV. "It was no problem; I had nothing else to do."

"Yeah – I'll bet that's not what Ben had in mind when he told me to bond with you."

Alex tensed up as the words left his mouth. Wolf mentally flinched as he realised how that statement had sounded.

"Ben told you to spend time with me?" Alex's question was totally toneless, not a hint of accusation in it; that made it worse.

"No – well, yes, but –"

"You don't have to do that if you don't want to. I know we're not friends and you didn't want to take me in to begin with. I'm grateful you did that much, you don't need to do anything else." Alex informed him calmly, still not looking at him.

Wolf hesitated, unsure how to take that. While Alex sounded perfectly reasonable, as if it did not matter to him, he got the feeling that the teenager was somehow hurt by his careless slip of the tongue. "I know I don't have to; I want to."

Alex brought his hand up to his lips and began to bite his fingernails almost unconsciously. "It's okay, Wolf, really. Nobody should be pressuring you with that, not even Ben."

Wolf frowned in total perplexity until it hit him what the problem was. "Hey, Cub," he began, shifting his body so he was facing the younger male fully, "Ben didn't pressurize me into anything, okay? He didn't need to tell me to spend time with you, I wanted to. I'm just not sure how to do it, you know? You had a point when you said we're not friends; I don't know you very well and you don't know me. But that doesn't mean we can't be friends . . . you know . . . eventually?"

Alex finally looked at him, turning his face slightly. Wolf found it impossible to tell what was going on in his head as he stared at Wolf silently, as if weighing him up. Then he smiled, "Yeah. You're right."

Wolf smiled back. Glancing at his watch, he stood up, "Come on, help me get the dinner on."

"Okay."

XXXXX

After dinner the two of them silently decided not to watch the TV for once (after Oops TV was finished, of course) and talked instead, mainly about school, work and interests. Eventually family came up.

"So how'd you get that car? The insurance alone must be massive."

"It is, bloody thieves," Wolf growled irritably. "But I got it at a bargain price, so the insurance wasn't that much of a problem to begin with."

"How'd you get that? Glare at the salesman until he agreed to give you a discount?" Alex asks, the picture of innocence as Wolf turned the infamous glare on him.

"No, actually, it belonged to a friend of my stepfathers; the bloke wanted a newer car, so my stepdad bought the old truck off of him for my seventeenth birthday."

"That was nice of him."

"I thought so."

Alex hesitated, then decided to ask anyway, as he never could control his curiosity. "So, if that was your stepdad, your dad – "

"Is irrelevant." Wolf said shortly.

Alex wisely stayed quiet, sensing that it was a sore point with his guardian. Instead, he changed the subject, "So what's your name short for? Christopher?"

Wolf fidgeted for a moment. "Sort of," he said evasively.

Alex raised an eyebrow, "Sort of?"

Wolf glared at him again, "Will you stop doing that damn eyebrow thing? Ben does that to me all the time – it's really annoying!"

Alex continued to stare at him blankly, awaiting an explanation.

Wolf made a funny noise, somewhere between a grunt and a sigh, then said, "My full name is Christophoros Stephanidis. It's a bit of a mouthful, so I just go with Chris."

"You're Greek?"

"Yeah," Wolf said. "My parents are Greek, but I was born in London. Lived here my whole life."

"I'm guessing you have a large family then?"

Wolf grimaced. "Oh yeah, but most of them are in Greece, thank God. And after my dad left, we got cut off from his side, so that limited it a little."

Alex smiled. "Brothers and sisters?"

"Just a little brother – Nicodemus. We call him Nico."

"You see him often?"

Wolf smiled, "Not as much as I used to, since I joined the SAS, but whenever he's in the area he drops by."

"What's he do?"

"He's a musician. Drums, bass, violin; you name it, he plays it."

Alex smiled. It was unusual to see Wolf so openly happy. "I take it you're close."

"Thick as thieves. Always have been. He's only eighteen months younger than me."

"How old are you, anyway?"

"I'm twenty-three. What?" the soldier demanded, catching the look on Alex's face.

Alex shrugged, "Nothing. You just seemed older, that's all."

"Humph." Wolf responded, not looking amused. After a moment, he asked, "What about you?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I read in your file that you lived with your uncle until you were seven, then he employed your guardian – Jack, isn't it? – to be the housekeeper and to babysit you, right?"

"If you already know, why are you asking?" Alex's voice had taken on a sharp edge that Wolf noticed, but ignored in favour of getting answers.

"Well, what I don't get is how you lived with him all those years and never realised he was a spy."

Alex remained silent for a long while. Wolf was starting to think he should backtrack when the teenager finally decided to answer. "In hindsight, it was kind of obvious. But at the time, I never thought anything about all the weird things, like the injuries, or the constant absences – I mean, he was just Ian. It never occurred to me that he'd lie or even that he'd have anything to lie about."

After a brief hesitation, he added in a whisper, "At least, I never thought he'd lie to me."

Alex looked down at his hands, completely missing the searching look that Wolf was giving him. When Wolf spoke again, it was about something utterly different and eventually, Alex joined in again, trying to forget he'd said anything about Ian Rider.

**A/N: That ending was a little melancholy, wasn't it? It was supposed to be like that, honest.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I just got my GCSE results yesterday so I'm in a very good mood – which will surely be gone by the end of this chapter – I hope you all appreciate my sacrifice!**

Wolf forced himself not to growl threats down the end of the phone as he listened to the man instructing him to do something that made his skin crawl.

"Why?" he barked when the man stopped talking.

"Excuse me?" the man covered it well, but Wolf sensed that he was a little stunned at the abrupt demand – clearly, just stating his business in the past had always worked perfectly in terms of cowering people into obedience. Hah. He'd never met Wolf before, obviously.

"Why do we need to go there?"

"Oh, you will not be needed, Mr Stephanidis, we simply require Mr Rider –"

"Who is_ my_ responsibility." Wolf interrupted sharply.

"Oh, yes, of course, I am aware of that."

"Then I'm coming to. Now tell me, _what's it all about?_" The last four words were said in a snarl of anger that would've had the man cowering if he were in the same room. Lucky for him, he was quite a distance away.

"I am very sorry, Mr Stephanidis, but I am not at liberty to divulge that information over the phone; it must be said in person." He wisely hung up here, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Wolf's wrath any longer.

The soldier slammed the phone down onto the kitchen counter, fuming as he stared at the walls. After a few minutes he glanced down at his watch. Seven-thirty-two, it read. Alex would return from his visit to his friend James' house any minute.

Wolf had been very reluctant to let him go, as he was still concerned about the boy's safety given the recent abduction-attempt (it had only been a week since it happened, after all), but had relented when he was assured that Alex was to be accompanied on the way there and given a ride by the boy's mother back to the flat afterwards. Still, he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that as soon as he let the teenager out of his sight, something bad was going to happen. As the call he had just received proved, he was right.

He jumped as the key rattled in the lock. Alex's footsteps ascended the stairs accompanied by muffled thumps. Wolf heard the boy move around for a few moments, presumably putting his schoolbag in his room. Then he heard his voice, "Wolf?"

"In here," he called back. His fingers clenched around the edge of the counter as Alex approached, his whole body tense. How could he possibly tell him?

"Hi Wolf – what's wrong?"

Wolf drew in a deep breath before answering; his back still turned so he didn't have to look at the boy's face when he told him. "A man named Mr Crawley phoned."

Alex didn't reply for several long moments. When he did, his voice was quiet, with just a hint of quiet resignation colouring his tone, "When do they want me to come in?"

"We're going in tomorrow afternoon, right after I pick you up from school."

"Okay."

It wasn't until Alex was lying awake in bed later on, worrying, that he realised Wolf's assertion that he was coming too was a gesture of support and maybe even care. It was a novel feeling.

XXXXX

From the moment Wolf picked him up until the moment they entered the Royal and General Bank, Alex had a very bad feeling in his stomach. He'd managed to ignore it all day and concentrate well on his school work, knowing, if his instincts about this meeting were right, he'd be behind on it again very soon.

Eventually, they found themselves in Blunt's office, facing the grey man with equal feelings of trepidation and resignation, and in Wolf's case, concern.

As was his manner, he ignored them for a little while after they were gestured into their seats by Mrs Jones, who lost her composure briefly upon seeing that Alex was escorted by the soldier. She covered it immaculately a moment later.

Blunt looked up. Unlike his deputy, he showed no emotion at the elder man's presence, instead focusing on the boy. "I trust you're recovering from your injuries, Alex?"

"Which ones? The burns down my back from Kenya or the more recent ones?"

Blunt didn't even twitch at the slight hint of accusation in the teenager's tone. "The recent ones."

Alex shrugged, his manner casual, though his eyes were guarded. "Good as new."

"I'm glad to hear it." Blunt said, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.

'_I'll bet you are,'_ Alex thought mutinously.

"Of course, we were most concerned that a kidnapping attempt occurred in the first place," Blunt's eyes hardened slightly as they shifted over to Wolf, including him in the conversation for the first time. "I really expected to be informed by you, Mr Stephanidis, instead of by Agent Daniels."

"With all due respect, sir, my first priority after the incident was to ensure that Alex was not severely injured and to inform my Unit members of it; as you said, our mission is to protect Alex." Wolf's tone was perfectly respectful, as it should be when a soldier addresses someone of higher rank, but Alex could sense a dark anger burning behind his words. Evidently, Blunt could as well, as he chose to let the matter drop.

"Yes. Well, in light of this recent attack, it seems clear to us that the danger is somewhat greater then we perceived. As such, we have decided that it would be in Alex's best interest to leave the county for a short while, so we can investigate the matter further and see if it can be resolved sooner."

"Drop the fake story, Blunt." Alex growled, his temper worn thin by the man's condescending false concern. "What is it you really want me to do?"

The three adults in the room were significantly surprised by the boy's abrupt change in attitude and silence reigned for a short while, Wolf sneaking sideways looks at Alex that the boy was well aware of and the two MI6 operatives staring openly.

"Very well," Blunt finally replied, "Our counterparts in America have requested your services again."

Alex's face stayed blank apart from a very minute furrowing in his brows, "Byrne?"

"Yes, Byrne." Mrs Jones took over. "He was most impressed with your results in Cuba and he feels that you're the best man for this job. You won't be alone, the CIA is loaning a liaison agent to work with you."

"Like Troy and Turner?" Alex asked, raising his right eyebrow in the familiar expression Wolf had grown accustomed too. Seeing it now made him want to laugh, for some bizarre reason.

"Yes, like them."

"Well, let's hope this one has a better success rating," Alex muttered, referring to the American agent's gruesome death in Sarov's underwater lair.

Blunt blinked in response, then ignored the comment completely, "The CIA believes that there is a new drug ring in New York that is using children and teenagers as traffickers. We've singled out several possible traffickers who we'd like you to befriend and convince them to let you join up; once there, we need you to glean as much information as you can on where their central base of operations is, how far their operation reaches and, if possible, their leaders."

"And supposing I say no, to all of this?" Alex demanded, his dark brown eyes as hard as stone.

Blunt projected an aura of complete surprise at the suggestion. "I didn't think you would refuse," he said.

At Alex's look of sceptical disbelief, he continued, "After all, drugs is something that kits home with you, isn't it? That business with Skoda and the crane and whatnot. One of your former friends is a drugs addict, is he not? What was his name – Colin?"

Wolf barely contained his shock at the revelation. Alex had never mentioned anything about that, thought the incident with the crane had been included in his file. Glancing at his ward once again, he could see that the teenager was only just controlling his rage. He looked like he wanted to leap out of his seat and strangle the grey man in front of him who so casually mentioned his former friend's ruined life.

But Blunt wasn't done yet. "And of course, once the mission is complete, we could arrange a visit with Miss Starbright."

Alex's body grew tense. Though he and Wolf had begun a tentative friendship and he enjoyed the man's company, it wasn't the same as it was with Jack, he'd missed her greatly since her departure to the states. A visit sounded like a wonderful idea – but was it worth it? A picture of Colin flashed through his mind abruptly.

'_I could stop other people from making the same mistake,'_ Alex thought.

Sighing, he conceded defeat. "All right, I'll do it."

"Wonderful," Blunt said, a brief smile crossing his face. "You're flight leaves Heathrow airport at ten tomorrow morning for Washington. There you'll meet with Byrne for the finer details and to meet your new partner. Now, if you head downstairs, Smithers is waiting with your gadgets."

XXXXX

It was the morning after an entirely sleepless night and Wolf was driving Alex to the airport, the boy's single suitcase in the back. Neither of them spoke on the journey. Wolf felt absolutely awful. It was his job to look after the boy and here he was, completely helpless to keep him out of a situation that could – and most likely would, given his track record – cause him serious harm. Maybe even kill him. It made the soldier want to slam him head into the steering wheel repeatedly until his woke up from whatever insane dream he was having.

They pulled up at the drop-off lane and Alex took of his seat belt. As he reached for the door handle, Wolf suddenly grabbed his arm. Looking round, the blonde boy raised his eyebrow in question.

Wolf sat still for a moment, biting his lip, uncertain how to explain for he felt. Due to lack of any other options, he settled for what he felt was the highly inadequate, "Look after yourself, kid. Okay?"

Alex's left eyebrow joined the right as he paused, absorbing that comment. "I try to."

"I don't want you to get hurt." Releasing Alex's arm, he hesitantly swiped a few stray strands of fair hair off of the boys face, searching for some kind of advice he could give to help the boy out. "When in doubt, always trust your instincts, all right? They've gotten me through some pretty tough missions; they'll do the same for you."

"Thanks, Wolf." Alex said quietly, his brown eyes locked on the soldier's dark grey ones. This was the first time anyone had tried to give him advice, to help him or to show they cared. He smiled at the man, trying to give reassurance that neither of them believed.

Turning away, he quickly jumped out of the car and moved around to retrieve his bag, marching up towards the entrance. He turned once he reached the doors and, turning, he saw Wolf was still sitting there, watching him leave. He tentatively raised a hand in farewell. Wolf did the same. Alex turned and left.

Sighing, Wolf turned the ignition and pulled away, driving back to his flat, trying to forget the tingling sensation that ran through his fingers as they'd come into contact with the boy's face. He had no idea that, inside the airport, Alex was trying to do exactly the same thing.

**A/N: Good? Bad? A little too much at the end? Give me something to work with, people!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry this one is a little bit shorter than usual; I thought that was a good place to end it. Hopefully the next update will be longer.**

"Excuse me?" Snake demanded. He spoke quietly, but the outrage was still evident in his voice nonetheless. Eagle simply stared at Fox, speechless.

Fox sighed. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. "I know guys, I'm pissed about it too," he said in a placating tone, "but it's already done and there's nothing we can do to change that."

"But why?" Eagle found his voice. "Why stick him with Wolf for protection and then send him out in the field? It doesn't make any sense!"

"It's because they don't care about him," Snake's voice was full of disdain; no one needed to ask who "they" were. "He's just a means to an end to them; that's the only reason they wanted to protect him in the first place, he's a valuable asset."

"He's fourteen!" Eagle cried.

"Fifteen," Fox corrected automatically.

"Fourteen or fifteen, it's still way too young!" Eagle snapped.

"Don't you think I know that?" Fox growled, already on edge with worry about Alex.

"Well, you work for the heartless bastards!"

"What's that got to do with anything? You think I approve of – !"

"Oi! Knock it off, the pair of you!" Snake barked.

Eagle and Fox shuffled guiltily under the medic's angry gaze as he chastised them, "I hate it just as much as you do, but snarling at each other won't do any good; what's done is done, so belt up and deal with it like adults instead of children!"

"Sorry, Ben." Eagle muttered.

"It's okay, I'm sorry too."

Snake nodded, satisfied that harmony had been restored, if not peace. Turning to Fox, he asked, "Have you been to see Chris, yet?"

Fox shook his head, looking, if possible, even more uneasy than he had earlier. "No; I don't know what to say to him. Besides, I doubt he'd welcome my company."

"Well we can't just leave him on his own to worry." Snake said decisively.

"What? You want to us to go round so we call worry together or something?" Eagle asked sarcastically.

"If that makes him feel better, than yes." Snake snapped.

So that was how the three men found themselves climbing up the communal stairs to the front door of Wolf's flat. For a moment they all shifted, none of them wanting to be the one to knock on the door. Then Snake scowled and reached out to do it himself. When his knuckles made contact with the dark blue door, however, it simply swung open before he could bang on it.

The three friends shared a worried glance, hands automatically reaching for weapons to defend themselves. Slowly, Snake pushed the door open all the way and lead the way up the stairs quietly, Fox and Eagle following behind.

When all three of them were standing in the hallway, Snake looked around before calling out, "Chris? You here, mate?"

"In here!" Wolf's voice responded from the kitchen.

The three men, relief etch over their respective faces, strode towards the kitchen, dropping their hands from their guns as they went. Snake was the first to reach the doorway, Eagle walking into his back when his teammate stopped short in shock. Fox was quicker off the mark and so managed not to collide with anyone, but instead was left jumping up and down at the back, trying to see what had caused his friend to seize up like that.

"Chris," Snake said gently, slipping into the kitchen with Fox and Eagle right behind him, "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Wolf demanded.

The SAS men was on his hands and knees on the tiled floor of his small kitchen, a red bucket besides him and a yellow sponge in his hand that he was vigorously scrubbing all over the floor. The entire kitchen had been torn to pieces; the contents of all the cupboards was scattered on the counter and several cleaning products were within arm's reach on the floor.

"Why are you cleaning?" Fox asked, "The flat's immaculate."

"Yeah, that's because I just cleaned it, moron," Wolf snarled. As Fox had predicted, he wasn't exactly thrilled to see his former teammate.

"But . . . you never clean," Eagle said, staring at their Unit Leader in shock. "Well, unless it's your gun."

"I know, I usually can't be bothered with it, but cleaning helps me think, so I can figure out when he's coming back, besides, it's always good to come back to a nice clean place after a dangerous missions; besides, what if he's hurt? If the flats dirty, he could get infection and then he'd have to got to the hospital and then it could get even worse and it'd be my fault, again – "

"Chris!" Snake said, cutting his friend of mid-ramble, his eyes wide as he stared at the man in alarm, his facial expression mirrored by the other two men besides him.

"WHAT?" He shouted. As he did so, he hit the tile he was trying to clean so hard it snapped in half. Briefly, he looked down at the broken pieces, then abruptly threw down the sponge and launched himself to his feet. The three visitors quickly scrambled to get out of his way as he charged past to rifle loudly in the cabinet behind them, tossing things over his shoulder, muttering to himself.

"What are you looking for?" Eagle questioned hesitantly.

"Glue," Wolf replied shortly, swinging around rapidly once he found aforementioned glue.

"Chris," Fox jumped forward and grabbed the muscular man's arm as he tried to get down on his knees again and hauled him back up, "We need to talk about this."

"Talk about what?" Wolf growled, glaring at the spy who held his arm tightly.

"This isn't helping."

"Flat's don't clean themselves, you know."

"That's not what I mean and you know it! A second ago you said "It'd be my fault, again", didn't you?"

"Yeah, so?" Wolf snarled, trying to free his elbow from Fox's grip.

"It's not your fault."

"Don't be so stupid, of course it is!" Wolf shouted, finally succeeding in wrenching his limb loose. He glanced down at the cracked tile then threw the tube of glue across the room so it hit the opposite wall and fell down onto the cooker.

Fox glanced over his shoulder and jerked his head at Snake and Eagle, silently telling them to go. They both hesitated then, after sharing a glance, simultaneously stepped back out the doorway into the hall, deciding to let Fox handle it. After all, Fox was closer to Wolf than they were, ever if they were all friends.

Turning back to face his angry friend, Fox went to put a hand on his shoulder, and then pulled his arm back, thinking that might not be the best idea. Wolf wasn't a touchy-feely guy and right now it looked like doing the slightest thing wrong could set him off.

Sighing inaudible, Fox jumped right into it, "Why do you think it's your fault?"

"Because it just is!" Wolf snapped, turning around to unleash his worst glare on Fox. The men simply leant back and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. The gesture was so like Alex's that Wolf felt his heart drop into his stomach like a stone and all the fight drained out of him.

Swallowing hard, he propped himself up against the counter and, his head bowed to look at the floor, said, "It is my fault, Ben. It was my job to look after him and I blew it."

"You didn't blow it," Fox began soothingly.

"Yes I did!" Wolf interrupted angrily. "Ben, he was with me for two days before he was attacked and almost kidnapped – was I there to stop it? No I was not. And then_ your _lot," there was just the slightest hint of accusation in Wolf's tone that Fox heard and ignored, "drag him off to freakin' America on some mission that could get him killed and did I stop them? No!"

"Chris, what could you possibly have done?" Fox said gently, now putting his hand on his friends shoulder for comfort. "The first time was a mistake, no one knew that was going to happen. And about the mission – what could you have done? Taken on the government? Once they decided to send him there, he was gone. End of story and nothing you could or would have done would have made the slightest difference."

Wolf just shook his head doggedly, his friends reassurances failing to calm him down, "He's fifteen, Ben. He's just a kid – he shouldn't be doing this, it's not right. God, what if he gets himself killed – "

"He won't," Fox said firmly, decisively. "He won't. You've read his file; you've seen him in action yourself, at Brecon Beacons and in France. He's an amazing, resourceful kid with more courage than most full grown men. He'll survive, Chris. He'll come back. You know he will."

Wolf made a small noise that was somewhere between a growl and a sob. "God, I hope so, Ben," he whispered.

XXXXX

Alex held his hand over his mouth and nose to muffle his breathing as above his head, the guards heavy footsteps ran back and forth over the metal casing over his head. The metal was twisted in a criss-cross pattern; if any of the men looked down, below their feet, they would see him, hidden in the shadows though he was.

When the footsteps faded, he risked moving again, propping one hand against the cold wall to help guide his way along the rank sewer. At one point his foot slipped on something in the filthy water that went up to his knees and he had to bite his lip to stop from making a sound. His pursuers may have gone, but that didn't mean that they didn't have reinforcements lurking around, waiting for him.

He had to get out of there, fast. The right side of his torso was burning, slippery with his blood dripping down from the laceration one of the boss's minions had given him with a hunting knife. He'd managed to use Agent Mason's jacket as a makeshift bandage to help the blood clot and stop infection, but the wound was wide (though thankfully not deep) and his escape route was filthy.

As he thought about him, Alex felt a small twinge of regret for Agent Mason; he hadn't been exactly friendly, but he was civil enough and good at his job and whatever he was, he certainly didn't deserve to be killed. Not like that.

Alex shut his eyes briefly as he leaned against the sewer wall to catch his breath. He didn't want to think about it, it was too gruesome. He'd worry about Agent Mason's death later, when he more certain that he wasn't about to face his own.

"THERE HE IS!"

Which apparently wasn't going to be now.

**A/N: As always, I apologise for any and all mistakes that may or may not be in this (I fixed one that I spotted just as I was about to post this, so I'm sure there will be more lurking around).**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hi everyone! Right, I've got an important English Lit Essay to write, so I thought I better get this up first – aren't I nice? Warning: this chapter is not a pleasant one – even the best bit.**

The warehouse was a mess.

It had been abandoned several years ago by the British government and it looked like it. The walls were covered in thick, slimy lichen, the garden was overgrown so it choked the rusting iron gates that stood as an entrance and random bits of machinery were discarded all over the place, giving the place an aura of emptiness.

It was anything but.

A tall man strode up towards the front of the warehouse, he back straight and his steps long. He had the look of a soldier about him, despite his slightly unkempt brown beard and the silver lining his hair and indeed that was what he was; Kazimir Sokolov had served twelve years in the Russian Army and the eight in the Intelligence service before he "retired". He was one of General Sarov's most loyal lieutenants.

He stomped briskly into the warehouse, closing the door behind him. Crossing the huge, dark space stretching out before him in seconds, he made his way up rickety old staircase, the iron groaning in protest under his weight. Soon enough, he came across and large door so beaten down it was amazing it was still attached to it's hinges. He rapped his knuckles on the door and was greeted with a low, "Enter."

Sokolov pushed the door open, the hinges squealing, and saluted, "General."

General Alexei Sarov was half-dead.

At least, in body he was. He was half-sitting up in a bad placed in the far corner of the room, white as a sheet and almost certainly struggling to breath as he forced himself to sit straight to listen to his second-hand's work. The bullet he attempted to take his life with so many months ago had failed in its purpose but had made its mark nonetheless; the ex-soldier may have been in perfect health, but he was not young, his lungs were badly damaged and he could only remain standing for so long before he would pass out from the pain. He found it humiliating that a man once as great as himself could be brought so low.

Wishing to get this over with as quickly as possible, he ordered Sokolov to continue with one word, spoke in their native Russian, "Report."

"Sir. The disappointments have been disposed of." Neither of them referred to the men hired to kidnap Rider as associates or anything of the like. Their pride would not allow it.

The General grunted in response. He had hated using them in the first place, worthless brawlers, that's all they were. He hoped Alex had not been offended by the fact that he'd sent such second-rate labourers to retrieve him, but he had few soldiers he could trust these days, so it simply could not be helped.

Sokolov continued, "It appears Rider has left the country, sir, on another mission."

Sarov's eyes narrowed with barely suppressed anger. "How long?" he rapped out impatiently.

"He has been gone no longer than a fortnight, sir. Our comrades were able to gain access to secret files in the Pentagon; according to what was written their and what has been updated since, we estimate that Rider should be returning to Britain in a matter of weeks, if not days."

Sarov nodded in acknowledgement, his rage abated, for the moment. "Are our preparations complete?"

"There are complications, sir. It has not been as easy as we anticipated. We should be able to proceed in perhaps three weeks."

Sarov smiled for the first time. He may have been weak in body, but his intelligence and his spirit were very strong, burning bright and visible in his eyes.

Excellent. He only had to live three more weeks, and then his task would be complete.

XXXXX

_'Move, you idiot,'_ Wolf commanded himself as he stared at the dark-painted door silently, his hands balled into fists at his side, '_it's only another room, it needs to be cleaned. Move!_'

But that was the problem. It wasn't _just_ another room, it was _Alex's_ room. And yes, it did need to be clean and yes, that would help his nerves as cleaning always did. But this was different. The second he got home when he dropped the kid off at the airport, he'd slammed the door shut and not opened it since.

Sure, he'd only been in it for a short time, but already it showed signs of the boy's personality, of the uniqueness that he possessed. Wolf couldn't bring himself to go in there, to disturb the teenager's sanctuary and likely his privacy too, if he had anything in common with a normal kid his age. Not only that; he couldn't face the guilt and the shame that coursed through him when he looked at the door, let alone entered. It was his fault. Ben could comfort him for as long as he wanted to, but Wolf felt in his heart that if he'd just stood up and said something, _anything_, that maybe, just maybe, he might have been able to stop it.

But he hadn't. And standing here staring at the door wasn't going to make it any better. He was just going to have to bite the bullet and walk in and tidy up a little. Get the hardest bit out of the way. Besides, he was sure Alex would appreciate coming home to a made-up, inviting bed and a clean room instead of a mess.

If he came back.

XXXXX

Alex was going home.

He stared at the pale arm that encircled his waist, felt the gentle breath of the boy laying beside him in the bed as he snuggled closer in his sleep, exhaling on the back on Alex's neck. The blonde boy glanced at the clock as it switched over to three-twenty-six am. Just four more hours and thirty-four minutes until he was going home. That was all he could think about.

Gently lifting his partners arm from his torso, he slid his body out of the bed gently, eyes sliding around looking for his clothes. As he bent to retrieve his boxers, his side flared with pain, causing him to wince and put a hand to the knife scar near his ribs, tightly bound in bandages. It still hurt like hell.

As he dressed, Alex wondered what it would be like when he got up in the morning, glancing at the bed as he moved to the door. Richard was still sound asleep, turning over to lay on his other side as Alex exited the room. The boy was nice and sensitive to Alex's injury, even as they'd rolled around under the sheets. He hadn't asked questions, but he hadn't forced the spy into anything too uncomfortable or painful. Alex liked that.

So why was it, when he'd closed him eyes in pleasure as Richard's firm body had been pressed against his, that all he could think about was going home?

**A/N: I get the feeling that Kazimir has already been used as the name of a villain in the Alex Rider books but at the moment I can't remember, so just go with it, yeah? I hope you like it, but I'm too tired to look for spelling errors, so this is how you're getting it, I'm afraid.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I'm sorry if this makes anyone uncomfortable, but nightmares have been done too many times, especially by me and Alex is nowhere near PTSD in canon, so consider this me reading between the lines.**

**And I checked it through two and a half times, so it should be okay. If not, I apologize.**

Wolf was very, very worried.

Alex had finally come back after two weeks (the longest two weeks of the soldier's life, though he'd never admit it) on Monday. It was now Sunday and Wolf was about ready to tear his hair out in sheer frustration. The boy was driving him mad and he didn't even realize it.

The problem was, Wolf couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. He'd noticed an extremely long cut curving along the boy's back when he'd walked out of the bathroom on Wednesday, the skin around it still red and puffy, making him wince at the mere sight of it. He'd gotten a phone call from that weasel Crawley, who told him that Alex's left calf may be troubling him occasionally (took his bloody time mentioning it!) but the limp he'd apparently had in the American hospital had ceased, so it wasn't that. In fact, it wasn't anything physical at all.

The boy was too quiet. He'd always been very introverted, especially for a teenager, but now he was borderline catatonic, answering politely when spoken to and only then. And he'd never realized just how unbelievably irritating the simple phrase, "I'm fine," could be. Alex had uttered that at least half a dozen times since he'd returned, every time Wolf had asked. Said it with a straight face too, so the elder man almost bought it.

Which is why he was standing utterly still, numbed with shock at the contents of his ward's bedside drawer. Wolf blinked his dark grey eyes slowly, his muscular torso rising and falling with each shallow breath. Despite all the trauma the kid had been through, he was so stoic, so collected . . .

'Now you know why . . .' a treacherous voice in the back of the man's mind whispered. A muscle in his jaw ticked and his mouth tightened into a hard line, cursing himself internally for being so stupid. How else could the kid possibly be so calm, with all that he'd been through? He'd suspected that Alex had had some kind of outlet, some way of dispelling all the stress and pain. He'd just never considered the option that it might be this . . .

The key scraped loudly in the lock, announcing Alex's arrival. Wolf remained where he was as he heard the younger boy ascend the stairs and head towards his room. From the angle, Alex had full view of Wolf frozen in his bedroom, his spine rigid and still. Sensing trouble, the teenager inched forward carefully, debating whether calling out to the man would be a good idea or not.

"Cub," Wolf spoke slowly, deliberately. "Come here."

Alex frowned, shrugging his bag off of his shoulder to the floor where it landed with a thump. He entered the room, eyes fixed to the back of Wolf's neck, his head still bowed. Brown eyes darted to the opened drawer and panic flooded his senses. No. He couldn't have, could he?

Wolf reached out and plucked the razor blade out of the compartment, turning to face the teenager tensely. His face was completely blank as he held the blade in the air. "Would you like to explain this?"

He fought down the nervous urge to gulp, his eyes locked on the utensil held unyieldingly. Eventually, he wet his lips and quietly rasped, "What's the problem? It's just a razor. You have one too . . ."

"I shave, Cub. You don't." Wolf growled, a very dark look crossing his face at the attempted lie. He could see the truth lurking in those dark eyes.

Before Alex could stop him, Wolf seized hold of his left arm and roughly pushed the sleeve of his jumper up to his elbow, brow knitting in confusion at the sight of the unblemished fair skin. He quickly checked the other arm, but it was just the same. The man glared at the boy, bewilderment in his eyes. "Then, where . . . ?"

Involuntarily, Alex's eyes glanced downwards. A strange look, halfway between horror and anger, crossed his guardian's face as he hissed lowly, "No. That's where everyone looks, it's the obvious place. You're too clever for that, aren't you, Cub?"

Alex jumped back, desperately trying to pull his arm free of the SAS man's grip but he proved too strong. Clutching his wrist so hard Alex was certain it'd bruise tomorrow, Wolf dragged the boy towards him and, moving out of the way as he tried to catch his footing, slammed his hands onto the boy's back, making him shout "Hey!" in surprise as he fell on his bed. He tried to scramble out of the way but raised himself no further than a centimeter when Wolf's heavy body landed on top of him, forcing him back down. The itchy material of his school trousers scraped his legs as the man forced them up to his knees, Alex thrashing uselessly the whole time.

"Wolf, cut it out! There's nothing wrong . . ."

A sharp intake of breath from the man told him it was too late. He squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in the white comforter, his hands clenching the fabric so tight he thought he might rip it. He could almost feel Wolf's eyes burning into his back and fought back the trembling. He'd cling onto whatever semblance of dignity he had left, no matter how miniscule.

"Cub. Look at me."

Barely aware of what he was doing, Alex shook his head silently, his mind frantically searching for an excuse, anything to explain away what he'd done, to say it wasn't self-inflicted. Injury on a mission? Would Wolf buy that?

The ceiling abruptly came into view as Wolf grabbed his hips in painfully tight and flipped him onto his back, the man in question looming over him, his eyes hard. Alex tried not to flinch at the enraged look. Sliding his hand under Alex's neck, Wolf gripped him tight and hauled him up into a sitting position, forcing his head to tilt so he was staring down at the small cuts littering his calves, ruby red against his white skin. Wolf's hand tightened as Alex gulped, unable to stop himself, at the sight, calloused fingers digging into his neck.

"What were you thinking?" Wolf barked, his voice getting louder as he continued. "Why would you do this? For such a clever person this is a bloody stupid thing to do! Answer me, Cub."

"What do you want me to say?" Alex snapped, resolve hardening is voice. Defiance gleamed in his dark eyes as he stared up into his guardian's angry face. "That I'm sorry? I'm not. I did it because I wanted to. Why were you even looking through my drawer anyway?"

"You little – that's irrelevant!" Wolf snarled, face flushing. "This is my flat and I'll look where I damn well want to! Why did you do this?"

"I just told you! Let go of me." Alex jerked out of Wolf's hold, stumbling to his feet and turning to face the furious soldier as he lunged off the bed towards his ward.

"Because you wanted to isn't an answer! Why did you want to do it?"

"Why does it matter to you? It's none of your business!" Alex almost winced at how childish he sounded but he was too angry to care.

"It matters to me because I'm responsible for you and as long as you live under my roof, everything about you is my God damn business, understand?"

"It makes me feel better, okay?" Alex shouted, slipping backwards as slowly as he could bring himself to do, wondering if he could get out before Wolf could stop him.

Noting the cornered animal-like expression on his face, Wolf gave him a glare that warned him not to try anything. The man was far faster and stronger than he was. "Sticking a razor blade in your skin makes you feel better, does it?"

"Yeah, it does."

Wolf's jaw shut with a snap. He stormed passed Alex out into the hall, picking up the hand-held phone he'd abandoned on the banister earlier that day after his conversation with Crawley.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked, voice suddenly soft, nearly a whisper, every instinct in his body telling him to stop the man.

"Calling MI6."

"What? Why?"

"You've been through too much without proper care. I'm getting you a therapist." Wolf began to dial in the number.

All the blood drained out of Alex's face as he stared, wide-eyed, in horror at the man. He couldn't be serious, right?

Wolf finished typing the numbers and put the phone to his ear.

"No, Wolf, don't!" Alex cried, grabbing Wolf's arm in a surprisingly strong grip and harshly pulling it back down, taking the phone away from his ear and making him grunt in shock. Wolf glared at the teenager, angrily attempting to prize his limb away from Alex's grasp as the boy continued to protest.

"Wolf, please!"

He stopped, staring at Alex. He'd never heard that desperate, pleading tone of voice from the younger male. Ever. He glanced down at the hand that still held his arm in its tight grasp, the blunt nails digging into his skin (something he doubted the kid realized he was doing) then back up at the boy, who stood frozen, his face starkly pale.

Wolf pulled away and this time, Alex let him go, sensing the change in his guardian. Wolf clicked the 'cancel' button on the phone and placed it back on the banister before striding to the living room, gesturing for Alex to follow him. After a moment of hesitation, he did. They sat on the squishy couch for several long moments before Wolf broke the silence, "You've got to tell me why, Cub. I get that you don't want a therapist. You don't want MI6 involved in this."

Alex nodded, grateful that the man had understood his dilemma. "But I can't just forget what I've seen and I can't let it go, not without knowing. I was going to talk to you about this anyway."

Alex looked at him sideways, one eyebrow creeping towards his hairline. Wolf fought down a smile at the familiar expression. Now was not the time. "You were?" the boy asked. "Why?"

Wolf shrugged, dark eyes locked with a stain on the carpet. "Because you're not acting like yourself. You're quiet."

"I'm always quiet."

"I know. A different kind of quiet."

"There are different kinds of quiet?"

"Alex." Wolf said wearily, voice low. The use of his real name made Alex realize that Wolf was genuinely trying to help him and was taking it very seriously. Swallowing down his nerves, Alex opened his mouth to try to explain, closed it and opened it again.

"It's transfer," he finally said.

Wolf glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Transfer?"

Alex nodded, not looking at the soldier. "I – I used to get nightmares. Really bad ones. It started after I saw Sarov shoot himself. You and I both know now that he didn't actually kill himself, but I thought he did and it . . . I couldn't get it out of my head. That he would commit suicide because I said I didn't want to be his son." Wolf hesitantly put a hand on his shoulder in support. He took a deep breath and continued. "I had them nearly every night. Jack was worrying and I was always exhausted, once I even fell asleep at the kitchen table and she freaked out." Alex winced at the memory. "Then one day I broke a mug when I was trying to put it in the dishwasher. I was alone and thinking about it and getting really upset and I put it in too hard. I cut myself on a shard."

Alex paused. Wolf, nodding his head gently, carried on for him, "And it made you forget the pain?"

Alex looked at him in surprise, then nodded, once. "Yeah. Yes, it did. So the next time, when I was upset over Sabina not believing me about MI6 and everything that was going on with Damian Cray, I was in the bathroom and an unopened razor was sitting right in front of me and I . . ." Alex bit his lip. "So I just started doing it. It's like, I can take emotional pain and turn it into physical and I feel better because emotional pain, well, that can last for a long time, but physical – it doesn't. It's fleeting. And it's so much easier to endure."

The silence was tense as Alex sat, almost rigid, waiting for Wolf to say something, anything. When he did, it was not what Alex expected. "I get it, kid."

"You do?" Alex failed to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

Wolf took his hand off of Alex's shoulder, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back against the couch, staring up at a crack in the ceiling that he'd put off repairing for months. "I told you that I have a stepdad, remember?"

Alex twisted around at the waist to look at him, frowning minutely, "Yes?"

Wolf paused, then said, "My biological father – my mum's first husband – was a total bastard. He used to beat her. Sometimes my brother and I too, if we ticked him off. She didn't know about that, though. He had her convinced that if she left him and took us away, we'd hate her 'cause we loved him and we were too scared of him to tell her the truth."

Alex held his breath, staring at the man. He felt something close to awe that this same man, who hated him and tried to make him as miserable as possible at Brecon Beacons, trusted him enough to tell him something so personal.

"Years after she finally got rid of the scumbag, we had a row and she told me I was like him, a bully and a thug and that I'd never be anything better." Wolf gave a bitter little laugh. "Hurt like hell, that did. Worse thing was, she was right." Alex opened his mouth to protest but his guardian cut him off, "Come on, Cub, I was an ass to you. I know that. Anyway, I may be better now, but I was a horrible person when I was your age. I was always angry at everything and guilty 'cause I didn't do more to protect my little brother or my mum and scared that she was right, that I was like him. I picked fights with people, anyone would do, just to forget everything. I nearly got arrested once when this one bloke who started on my brother ended up in hospital. I don't regret it; he was a dick and he was picking on Nico but it made me realize just how bad I could hurt someone."

Wolf turned his head to look at Alex as a half-smile graced his features. "Then mum met Simon. I hated him at first, but he was patient with me. He listened, he helped me. He's a great dad." Wolf gave Alex an intense look that made him want to turn his eyes away, a peculiar sensation that he could not put a name to running through him.

Wolf pushed himself off the couch, disappearing out the hallway. When he returned, he was holding the razor in his hands. Alex jumped to his feet, brown eyes locked on the blade. Wolf paused before silently holding it out to him. The teenager stared from it, to Wolf and back again.

"It's your life, Alex. I can't tell you what to do with it; I'm not going to force you to do anything. You've been through more than a kid your age should ever be and if this," he held the razor distastefully, "is what you need to do to deal with it, then I'm not going to stop you, even though I want to. It's your choice."

Several long moments passed between them before Alex reached out and took the blade from Wolf's palm. He walked to the door. Wolf turned to watch his progress. At the doorway, Alex stopped for a long moment. Keeping his eyes averted, he walked back to the soldier slowly, one step at a time and handed the blade back. Wolf took it without a word.

**A/N: I was rereading Snakehead today and I noted that Anthony Horowitz mentioned an "inner calm" Alex has that allows him to survive in the world he's in – so that got me thinking, how does he have that?**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: 7 reviews in one night? Awesome! I'm so happy about that, I'm going to write you another chapter despite the fact that I'm in school right now ****J**** Don't get used to it CHiKa-RoXy!**

**In answer to those who did not log in to review (which, by the way, I hate, as I like to thank you properly):**

**Coolcat: You're welcome.**

**Anonymous: Updating now ****J**

**Alex Fan: I wanted to leave them out for a little while to give Alex and Wolf more time to adjust to being around each other and, as you'll see in this chapter, Alex is a little uncomfortable around them, so it's kind of awkward.**

**Not loggin in coz of pityhate: I know, but it would've been far too much of a contrived coincidence if there was an open blade that just happened to be lying around, so that seemed the most logical conclusion. Besides, I've cut myself twice in my life and that's how I had to do it so my mother wouldn't realize what I was up to. P.S. Good luck with your grades! ****J**

Alex was intensely grateful that Wolf did not mention what had transpired the night before. The man had been nothing other than his usual grumpy self, in fact. He hated mornings. Still, he could not quite help the slight sense of trepidation he felt as he entered the flat that afternoon, as well as déjà vu. Except instead of his sports bag hanging off his shoulder he had his very heavy school bag rubbing against the wound of his back. Damn minions and their crazy weapons obsessions.

"Cub!"

Alex's head jerked up in time to see a tall figure come charging at him. He jumped back out the doorway onto the landing and then sideways onto the uppermost stair for good measure. The man came hurtling down at such speed that he almost smashed face-first into the opposing wall, his outstretched arms catching him just in time. He turned to grin at the teenager, "There you are! You came home from school pretty quick – sorry we stopped Wolf from getting you, but he would've told you and we wanted it to be a surprise."

Alex just stared at him, taking in the auburn hair, the amber eyes, wide mouth and leanly muscular build visible on his bare arms and tight T-shirt. Who on earth . . .?

It dawned on him quite suddenly, almost making his knees go weak. "Eagle?"

"Yup!" The smiling mouth widened even further as the SAS man nodded vigorously. When he stopped, though his expression remained friendly, his eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze becoming darker somehow, more intense, as though he were sizing the boy up. Alex just managed not to squirm under the scrutiny.

"What's taking so long?" Wolf's voice rang down the stairs within his flat, making Alex very thankful. The teenager thought he detected a sharper edge to the man's tone than usual and suspected that this little visit hadn't been a surprise for him alone.

Eagle, after giving Alex a swift glance the boy was sure he'd thought he'd concealed, began to walk up the stairs, one hand trailing along the banister. When they were almost at the top, another even more alarming thought occurred to him. Eagle had said "we" right? As in more than just him?

The answer came soon enough. Following Eagle into the living room, he spotted Fox leaning idly on the arm of the black leather couch Wolf was sitting on, staring at the doorway as he waited for his ward and teammate to appear. Over in the corner, perched on the mismatched cream footstool that usually lived in the hallway cupboard and looking somewhat ridiculous for such a tall man, was the fair haired medic known as Snake. He turned his head to watch the pair of them as they entered, his bottle blue eyes skimming over Eagle to land squarely on Alex. Just as he had downstairs, the boy resisted the urge to fidget as he received the same piercing look twice in the space of thirty seconds. Uncertain what to do, he lingered in the doorway uncomfortably, face a mask of polite inquiry, eyes trailing over the assembled men.

"Hey, Alex. How was school?"

Alex smiled slightly at Fox, relaxing a little bit. At least he knew one friendly persona was genuine. "Hi, Ben. Can't complain; boring mainly."

"Yeah, school always is." Eagle said casually, plopping down on the floor to lean against Snake's legs. The other man rolled his eyes, at the statement or the gesture, Alex wasn't sure.

Eagle caught the expression. "Don't look at me like that; we couldn't all be brainiacs like you."

"I wasn't a brianiac, I just paid attention while you fell asleep on the desk and copied off of me." Snake replied foppishly. It sounded like they'd had this conversation many times in the past.

"What was the point in me writing down rubbish that I didn't get? I needed you to explain it to me later anyway, so it was saved paper. Think of the trees! And I didn't sleep on the desk."

"Yeah, you did. Drooled too."

"I did no – yeah, okay, maybe I did."

"Not maybe, definitely."

Alex watched the byplay silently, unsure what to do. They were acting, like, well, normal people. He wasn't quite sure what to expect from the men who'd ignored and bullied him at Brecon Beacons, but it wasn't this. Though that may have been a little unfair; after all, Fox had proved in Australia that he was his ally and Wolf was practically his big brother despite the short time they'd spent together and the unlikelihood of it. Alex tried to disregard the little knot that twisted in his stomach at the thought.

"We went to school together, you know." Eagle's voice broke Alex out of his brief reverie. He was giving Alex that strange look again, waiting for him to respond.

"Yeah, I figured that out. You don't have much of an accent, though." It was true. The Scottish drawl was obvious in Snake's deep voice but not in his friend's.

"That's because I didn't live in Scotland all my life, like Sammy did. I got fostered up there and ended up living on the same street, going to the same school. Call it fate." Eagle yelped as Snake smacked him on the back of his head.

Alex filed that piece of information away, trying to think up of something to say and awkwardly aware that he was being a little paranoid. "So, where are you from then? Originally?"

"Pembroke, West Wales." At Alex's expression he nodded somberly. "Yes, it's wet. Very much so."

Alex nodded as a slightly uneasy lapse in the conversation occurred before Snake stood up, abruptly causing Eagle to fall to the floor, much to his protest. He strode over to Alex, looking down at him, his strongly structured face unreadable, though there was a certain warmth in his voice as he said, "Sorry, we should've introduced ourselves properly." He extended his hand. "Samuel Kerr. Call me Sam."

Alex shook his hand. His palm was warm and dry, a bit like Wolf's. "Alex Rider."

Snake's lips curled at the corners. "Yeah, we know who you are. The idiot I've had the misfortune to be saddled with for the last nine years – "

"Oi!"

"Is Evan Banks. I apologize, but we'll have to suffer him together it seems."

"Oh now you're just being melodramatic."

To Alex's surprise, Wolf snorted. "Sam be melodramatic? Impossible."

Fox, chuckling, joined in, "Oh yes, model of decorum is our Sammy –" he broke off to duck as Snake plucked a small plastic coaster from the side table and flung it, spinning through the air, at him. Upright again, he raised a brow at his friend. "A coaster? Seriously?"

Snake shrugged, "It worked. Sort of."

It wasn't too bad, Alex reflected later. The four men bickered among themselves, occasionally asking him a question or including him in their comments. Wolf eventually told him to stop lurking in the doorway and he accordingly took his place on the couch beside the man. He noticed him shooting him glances every now and again, but he made no further remark. It was a bit like when a relative you've lost touch with comes to visit, he thought, you know each other but not really and no one's sure what they can say or not. Not necessarily bad, but not exactly comfortable either.

Eventually, Eagle made a statement that nearly had him jumping out of his skin. "So, Wolfie-boy, we're at a loose end this weekend –"

"I like how you just assume I'm spending it with you," Snake muttered mutinously as Eagle ignored him.

"So can we hang out with you and Cub?"

To his credit, Alex managed to keep a perfectly straight face over his mounting panic. This was not good, this was really not –

"Sorry, Cub's got a couple of his friends coming round this weekend." Wolf answered nonchalantly, turning his head slightly to look at the teenager. His eyes were bright and alert. "Is it both of them, er, Tom and Jim did you say?"

Taking his cue, Alex responded promptly, "Tom and James. I'm not sure; Tom has to get permission first."

Wolf nodded idly as if he already knew that. "Good."

Eagle looked very disappointed. "Oh. That sucks." Then his face brightened, "Why don't we pop round anyway? Meet the kiddies."

Alex nearly did lose it at that. The last thing he wanted was three SAS soldiers storming round to the flat and "hanging out" with his best friends. Tom might have a heart attack from excitement. Besides, James was already suspicious enough of what was really going on with Alex without meeting them, God knows what he'd think.

Wolf intervened again. "No way in hell, Eagle. I don't want you terrorizing them."

"Says the man with the Glare of Doom . . ." the man grumbled sulkily.

Sensing the group was about to dissolve into yet another minor debate, Alex excused himself, "I'm going to get a drink. Anybody want anything from the kitchen?"

A chorus of negatives met his question but as he exited the room, Snake got to his feet and strode after him. Alex cocked a brow at him, but the soldier just shrugged, so he didn't say anything. Alex pulled a Coke can out of the fridge, then sidled out of the way so the man could get his beer. As Alex began to head back to the living room, his voice stopped him. "I'm sorry."

Alex turned back, confused. "Pardon?"

The man straightened up, reaching into the cabinet over the counter to get a glass, avoiding Alex's eyes. "About Brecon Beacons. We bullied you and you didn't deserve it. I'm sorry."

Alex stared at him blankly before slowly nodding his head. "It's okay."

"I want to have a look at your wounds."

Alex started at the sudden demand. "Why do you want to do that?"

"I'm the unit's medic, it's my job to make sure everyone's in good condition."

"I'm not in your unit."

"You're Wolf's ward. And he cares about you." Snake's eyes darted up, a strange, unreadable expression in them. "That's why he lied about this weekend. Don't look so surprised, I've always been able to tell when one of them, or anyone really, lies to me. For the record, you should have your friends over anyway. I'm sure they miss you when you're not there."

Against his will, Alex could feel a lump form in his throat and he looked down, taking a sip of his Coke. "I think they're used to me disappearing by now."

Another sharp look. Alex twitched slightly, eager to be away. He turned to leave when Snake grabbed his arm. Alex tensed, suppressing the reflex to lash out at the unexpected move.

Snake stared at him for a long moment, examining him. "Eagle and I joined the army at the same time, you know. Sixteen, we were. Seven years since and we haven't seen nearly as much as you have." He paused, lips pursed. "Are you on any medication? Painkillers, that sort of thing?"

Alex shook his head. "No. They don't want me getting addicted to anything, so they put me on the light stuff when I first get into hospital and they take me off it pretty quickly."

Snake's brows drew together in a frown. "PT?"

"I had some after I got shot. "

"For how long?"

Alex thought for a second. "About a week or two."

Snake's hand tightened on his arm, most likely involuntarily judging by the thoughtful look on his face, hurting just a little bit. There was anger there too, thought it was carefully suppressed. His hold didn't feel like Wolf's powerful grip, though it was just as strong. "I want to look at it."

Alex tried not to gulp. "No thanks. I'm fine."

The anger became more visible. "Fine? How could you possibly be fine after being shot and having only two weeks of PT?"

"Well, I've been on four missions since then and I'm still fine." Defiance spurned within Alex as he tried to pull his arm away. Snake didn't let go, the muscles in his forearm flexing as he tightened his grip, his eyes dark. Alex tried to make his tone more placating. "Look, Snake, I appreciate that you're only trying to help but I really don't need it, so can you please let go of me?"

He thought for a moment that the Scottish man might refuse but with another dark look directed at Alex's chest, where the bullet had entered, he did as Alex asked. As he edged passed him and started to walk down the hallway, he muttered, "You tell me if you want me to get you anything."

It wasn't a question. "Okay."

XXXXX

They left at about nine o'clock, an hour after Alex excused himself on the premise of homework, the Chinese takeaway boxes piled by the bin to be sorted out in the morning. Fox sauntered out happily, calling a goodbye over his shoulder. Eagle sprinted down the stairs to bring the car round, delighted that Snake had given him the keys. That was the warning signal and Wolf heeded it, waiting patiently on the couch, pretending to be flicking through the channels, for Snake to hurry up and mention whatever it was that was troubling him. It took three minutes of tapping his fingers on the side table and staring at nothing in particular as he gathered his thoughts, but he finally did, "You need to talk to Cub."

Wolf glanced up from under his lashes. "About?"

"His injuries. I asked him in the kitchen to show me and he refused. He's not taking any pain killers for them, he barely had any PT – they might now have bothered for all the good it would've done – and he won't accept my help."

Wolf frowned. He had a bad feeling about this. "So, what, you want me to force him to let you?"

Snake hesitated briefly. "I'd like you to reason with him first, he's more likely to listen to you, I think."

"And if he won't listen?" Wolf challenged, controlling his anger superbly. Snake was his friend, after all. "I should just order him to accept your help?"

"In a nutshell, yes."

"No." Wolf said flatly. Snake's head swiveled round to stare at him in shock. "No?"

"That's what I said. I'll talk to him, try to convince him, but I won't make him do anything, Sam. It's his choice."

Snake stared at him in astonishment which quickly turned to irritation. "For heaven's sake, Chris! He needs this, he can't possibly carry on the way he is – "

"I think he's doing okay, all things considered. Too many people try to control his life as it is, I won't be one of them."

"But –"

"I said no." The cold dismissal in Wolf's voice left no doubt that the conversation was over.

Eagle yelled up the stairs to Snake, complaining of the cold night air. Jaw set with fury, Snake got to his feet and stormed out of the flat, slamming the door after him. Wolf sighed wearily, walking to the kitchen. He stopped as he saw the door of Alex's room open and the boy in question standing in the crack. His dark eyes were blank as they stared at Wolf.

"What are you doing, Cub?" Wolf asked calmly, though he obviously already knew.

"Spying." Alex responded flippantly. "I'm a spy, it's what we do."

"I'm aware." Wolf said dryly, waiting.

Alex shifted slightly, looking uncomfortable. Eyes on the floor, he said, "I don't want him to look, Wolf."

"He could help you."

"I don't want him to look." Alex repeated; there was no doubt in his voice.

Wolf gazed at him for another moment, then nodded. "Okay, if that's what you want. Let me know if you change your mind."

"Okay. Wolf?"

"Yeah."

Alex stared at his eyes silently, and then his lips arched into a tiny smile. "Thanks."

Wolf smirked back. "No problem."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: People, do me a favour and please sign in to review! You have no idea how much that annoys me! Gack! But I love you anyway, so here's another chapter, with more action, as was requested; the next chapter or two may seem a little slow or random, but I do actually know what I'm doing, so bear with me. I've also finished this when I am tired and in a lot of pain, so cut me some slack.**

**In answer to those who did not sign in:**

**100: Thank you for being my hundredth reviewer, it gave me a warm tingly feeling ****J**

**Ace: Yes, the genre is definitely romance, as this chapter will attest, but thank you for asking, I was trying to be subtle about it, but now I know it was too subtle.**

**Wolfie: No, Alex will not be going to Brecon Beacons in this story, but I am considering it for the sequel, mainly because I'm juggling with a tone of prospective plots. **

**Al and Anonymous: Of course Snake's not going to give up looking at Alex's wounds! He's Snake!**

**Anonymous: Not in this story, no, maybe in the sequel. I'm actually working on a time limit in this story, so it would be too soon for Alex to consider them family.**

**Coolcat, Eon, A and Sage: Thank you. **

Alex whistled quietly to himself as he clicked the lock of the door open. He'd had a wonderful day. He'd gotten an A in his Physics test, finished all his homework at school, managed to avoid those idiots always looking for a fight so they could join his "gang" or whatever it was people thought he'd been up to nowadays and best of all, he hadn't heard anything from Snake since Monday. On the whole, he was pretty happy. One last hurdle to tackle and it'd be perfect.

"Wolf! Are you home?" he called as he ascended the stairs.

"Living room!" Alex smiled to himself. It sounded like the soldier was in a good mood.

The man in question looked up as Alex strode into the room. His lips curled slightly at the corners, before he rearranged his face into a look of mock-trepidation. "Oh no, you're happy and you've got a conspiratorial gleam in your eye. Something I need to be worried about?"

"Whatever makes you think that?" Alex teased, arching his eyebrows and trying to look innocent as he plopped into place beside Wolf on the couch, stepping over an abandoned newspaper as he did. Wolf muted the TV, titling his head a little to look sharply at the teenager.

"Okay, okay," Alex said, somewhat more somber now. "Remember when the unit was round on Monday?"

Wolf hummed an affirmative, a hint of seriousness showing through now. Alex continued quickly, "And you made up that excuse about Tom and James coming round this weekend so they wouldn't?" Another confirmatory noise. Alex swallowed nervously, "Well, James mentioned that he didn't have anything on this weekend and Tom was supposed to go and visit his dad, but he had to go away suddenly, so I suggested they spend Saturday night here. Is that – okay?"

"Is that what you're getting fidgety about?" As Alex tried to suppress a blush, Wolf allowed a grin to break through. "It's fine, Cub, I told you to spend some time with your friends, didn't I?"

Alex nodded, relieved.

"Besides, it's not like we had any grand plans, is it? Unless you count watching telly as a grand plan."

Alex glanced at the TV and had to stop his jaw from dropping open. "Are you watching _Jeremy Kyle_?"

A dull flush crept into his guardian's face at the boy's incredulous look. Shifting, he grumbled, "Yeah, so what? They've been letting me out of work early this week and there's nothing to do till you come home, so . . ."

"Yeah, but _Jeremy Kyle_? I mean, come on!"

Irritated at his tone of voice, Wolf plucked the TV times from the side-table propped by his side of the sofa and slapped Alex upside the head with it. The astonishment on Alex's face startled a laugh out of the elder male. A bemused sort of grin spread over the blonde's face; he dived down and snatched the newspaper from where it had fallen on the floor, snapping into Wolf's face to collide with his forehead and nose. Blinking rapidly, the man began to chuckle lowly, trying to grab the paper out of his hands, which proved rather difficult. A tug-of-war soon erupted as Wolf got a grip, the TV times laying forgotten on the carpet, before the soldier launched himself at his ward, shoving him backwards into a slightly cramped position on the couch as they wrestled over the stationary, with him on top of Alex.

"Hand it over!" Wolf growled playfully. The kid was proving to be unusually resilient.

"Or what?" Alex challenged mischievously as he clung to the paper like a limpet.

"Or I will be forced to use underhanded tactics." Wolf threatened, dark grey eyes glittering humorously. "Tactics which even you will be unable to withstand." He yanked on the paper again, harder, to get his point across.

"I doubt that." Alex replied somewhat smugly, chortling as he held on. "Do your worst!"

"Cocky brat." Wolf laughed. "All right, you asked for it."

Abruptly, he relinquished his hold on the newspaper, causing Alex to jerk back involuntarily onto the cushions, his head landing on the arm of the couch. Quick as a flash, Wolf placed his left hand on Alex's side, halfway in between his hip and his ribs, whilst putting his right hand on the crook where the boy's neck and shoulder connected. He squeezed his fingers in both spots, immediately making Alex try to squirm away from his hands, surprising himself by laughing at the ticklish sensation.

He writhed under Wolf's hands, choking on his own laughter as he tried to get away, kicking his legs uselessly in the air. "No, don't – ha –ha-ha – dammit, Wolf, this – this is cheating! Ha ha ha!"

"Nope, it's tactics!" Wolf grinned like his namesake, keeping up his assault as Alex wriggled around beneath him. "You could always surrender."

"No way," Alex gasped out as the man momentarily stopped his harassment. The soldier shrugged carelessly and started again, making Alex spasm around, his hands coming up to push ineffectually at the man's shoulders.

"I can do worse, Cub!" Wolf said slyly as the boy kept on struggling and giggling in equal measure. He suddenly stopped tickling Alex's neck, though he kept up the pressure on his side, making him writhe away to his left so far he nearly fell off the couch. With his now free hand, Wolf gripped his shoulder firmly, keeping him place; he leaned down and, taking a deep breath, pressed his mouth to Alex's neck, blowing out harshly.

Alex shrieked as if he were being murdered at the change, tears of laughter welling up in his eyes. Wolf repeated the act several times, Alex thrashing all the while, until the boy finally yelled, "All right, all right, you win!" Smiling to himself, Wolf blew against Alex's throat twice more, just because he could, and then raised his shoulders up so he was hovering over his ward, smirking triumphantly. He looked around, then frowned minutely, "Where'd the paper go?"

Panting, cheeks flushed, Alex glanced briefly, then shrugged, "No idea." He let out a breathy little laugh at the absurdity of their activity, his eyes slipping closed. Wolf joined in, dropping his torso back down to give his arms a rest.

It took a moment or two to register just how close that movement brought their faces together. His eyes widened in shock, though he managed to stop himself from doing anything else, so as to not alert Alex and spare them both an awkward situation. He turned his head to his left, intending to see how close to the rest of their bodies were, but accidentally bumped Alex's nose with his own.

A sliver of his dark brown eyes were revealed before he too registered their proximity and, like Wolf, his eyes snapped open very wide. The elder man froze like a deer in headlights, his body going rigid, utterly clueless as to what he should do. Alex's chest continued to rise and fall in labored breaths, each inhale making them touch even more intimately. The seconds they stayed like that stretched out indefinitely, both of their minds racing.

Wolf gulped anxiously as he felt the teenager's heart pounding against his chest as they came in contact yet again. Very slowly he began to move, intending to pull away, his body constantly brushing again Alex's despite his efforts not to. He stopped as the teen's eyes dilated, his pupils almost entirely devouring his irises. He exhaled shakily and knew Alex could feel it on his own lips as he lay still beneath him. If he leant down just a little bit –

BANG!

"Ow! Stupid stairs!"

"Watch it, clumsy!"

"I do beg your pardon, oh masterful epitome of grace!"

"Real grown up."

"What, like you, you me – "

"Knock it off, guys, before you tick Chris's neighbours off."

Wolf flinched back from Alex as if he'd been given an electric shock as the muffled voices floated in through his front door, leaping clean off the couch. He stood in the middle of the living room, mind totally blank. This may not have been a battlefield, where he was trained and able to keep his head, but if his unit figured out what had almost happened between him and his _teenage ward_, it might soon become one. Alex stared at him silently, still lying on the couch, a strange, imperceptible look on his face. Then his eyes snapped back into focus and he jumped up, half-running out of the living room to the safety of his bedroom, closing the door hurriedly and leaning back against it, his legs apparently loosing the ability to hold his weight. A few moments later he heard another door close, either Wolf's bedroom or the bathroom, he suspected, the man having taken his cue from Alex.

As he brought up his hands to his flushed face, willing his skin to cool, the front door slammed open and he heard Fox's voice call through the flat. "Wolf! Cub! Anybody home?"

Squeezing his eyes shut, the spy leant his head back against the door, musing ruefully. '_And I was having such a good day . . . '_

XXXXX

Wolf and Alex, unbeknownst to each other, both cursed K-Unit as they sat in the car, Eagle's off-key singing accompanying them on the journey; Wolf for their timing and Alex for, well, existing really. Wolf was sneaking glances at his ward as he looked out of the window, probably in an attempt to avoid Snake's not-so-subtle staring, wishing he could see inside his mind. He kept wondering what would have happened if his fellow SAS members had not arrived when they did . . .

_'Nothing,_' He told himself firmly. _'You were just hot from the playing around, that's all. It had nothing to do with him. He's your responsibility and you wouldn't have done anything with him_.' Wolf stifled a sigh. The words sounded unconvincing, even in his head.

"We're here!" Eagle announced gleefully, breaking off his duet with Katy Perry. Wolf vowed never to let Eagle touch _his_ car's radio.

"Here" turned out to be a bowling alley. The three men had nearly knocked down the door to announce their entrance, and then demanded that their leader and unofficial fifth member come with them for some "bonding". As they all got out and headed off for the surprisingly large building ahead of them, Snake lagging behind a little to lock his car (and keep Alex in his line of sight, Wolf guessed) he mentally shrugged. They were here now, might as well suffer in silence.

None of them noticed that they had been followed during the car ride, or that the car pursuing them now parked several spaces away from them and the occupants got out. Alex noticed a group of men walking behind them to the bowling alley but then, what was unusual about that?

As Fox chatted with the girl at the reception area and Snake tried to restrain Eagle from following his nose to the café area, Wolf noticed the teenager hanging back from them a little. He clenched and unclenched his fingers into fists unconsciously, trying to think of how to not make this uncomfortable between them. That was the last thing he would ever want. Eventually deciding to stop being dumb and just get on with it, he sidled up to the boy idly. The teenager made no acknowledgement of his presence, but Wolf suspected that he was hyper-aware of him.

"You okay with this, Cub?" he murmured. He thought he detected tension in the way Alex held his shoulders, so blurted out, "Being here with them, I mean?" He gave a minute jerk of his head in the other soldiers directions. Whilst Alex seemed to like Fox, Wolf had noted that he seemed less sure of himself with the other two members of K-Unit.

Alex nodded, not looking at him, "I'm fine."

Wolf winced unwillingly; he still hated that phrase. Catching it, the spy added, "They're trying to be nice, nothing wrong with that. Besides," he looked up, his eyes gazing around the large, noisy building, "they could've picked a worse place."

"I'm surprised they didn't, actually." Wolf answered honestly.

Alex's lips quirked up in response. The others soon returned and the next hour was passed in a haze of boos and joking around. Alex was a little too quiet for Wolf's liking, but he still joined in when invited too and he supposed he might be being paranoid, so he didn't complain – that and he hammered Eagle, which made Wolf laugh. All and all, it went pretty well for the most part. Until Snake started again.

Eagle's stomach rumbling stopped their conversation, prompting him to say, "I'm hungry," rather unnecessarily.

"You're always hungry." Fox said dismissively before turning to Alex, "I swear, Eagle could eat everyone's rations on a mission, plus our survival packs and a horse if one happens to be handy."

"Keep talking like that and I may just do it one day." Eagle threatened, the smile in his eyes belying his serious tone.

"What about you, Cub?" Snake asked.

Wolf wondered if he was the only one who saw the spark of sudden alertness in the teenager's eyes as he looked at the medic. "What do you mean?"

Snake smiled in what he probably thought was a reassuring manner, "Are you hungry, of course."

"Oh. Yeah, I could go for a burger."

"Great! Let's get going." Eagle said happily, climbing to his feet.

"How about one more game?" Fox suggested cheerily. "I can't resist the opportunity to destroy you all – _again."_

"We get it, Fox, you're a good bowler." Wolf rolled his eyes at his friend. "You don't need another chance to show-off."

"Spoilsport." Fox sulked, prompting a small smile from Alex.

"I don't think it's a good idea Cub plays again." Snake said seriously, a frown marring his handsome features.

Wolf felt a sinking sensation in his stomach as the smile disappeared, the boy turning to look at the Scottish soldier, "Why not?"

Snake shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, the balls are heavy; we don't want you to put any strain on that wound on your back, from what I read in the medical report it seemed bad."

Alex stared. "You read the report?" Then, with a slight shake of his head, he jumped to a different method, "I just played two games with you guys, I'm fine."

Snake grimaced faintly. "Yes, well, we don't want you to over-extend yourself, do we?"

"I'm not over-extending anything, I'm fine." Wolf noticed the flare of annoyance in his ward's eyes and tried to signal to Snake from behind his back to drop what he was doing, _now._

Either Snake didn't see or he chose to ignore him. "Well, I can't really confirm or deny that, seeing as I haven't actually inspected your injuries myself . . ." The indication was clear.

After a moment of silence, Alex forced a smile on his face, one that had little, if any warmth in it, "I appreciate your concern, but I really am fine." Alex got to his feet and started walking off.

"Where are you going?" Wolf called before he could stop himself, almost cringing at how accusatory he sounded without meaning to.

"Toilet." Alex answered without turning round again.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Wolf turned to the medic, hissing, "What part of leave it alone did you not understand?"

"He needs help, Wolf." Snake snapped back.

"I think he's doing pretty well, all things considered." Wolf replied, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

"But you don't know, that's my point, and if you'd just back me up on this –"

"What, you mean force him to put up with you inspecting him when he's clearly not comfortable with it?"

"No one's comfortable with a medical examination, Wolf, but he needs it." Snake said firmly, his blue eyes hard.

"If I get the feeling you're right and he does need it, I'll call you, Snake. But until then you're not touching him, understand?" Wolf snarled.

Snake blinked in surprise as his leader's vehemence, as did Eagle. Neither of them had ever seen him this way. Wolf thought he detected the tiniest hint of agreement and encouragement in Fox's eyes when he looked, but otherwise his face was blank. They lapsed into silence as they waited for Alex's return and the soldier, though he would never force Alex to undergo the ordeal of a someone you didn't trust looking you over after a traumatic experience, found himself wondering if it was just the idea of Snake forcing that on him that ticked him off so much.

XXXXX

Alex tried to contain his anger as he splashed water onto his face and the back of his neck. 'God, that man just doesn't know when to quit!' he thought mutinously as he glared at his reflection, droplets of water sliding down his cheeks and neck, dampening the collar of his T-shirt. While logically Alex was aware that the medic believed he was helping him, he still didn't want to be examined and he believed that Snake ought to respect his wishes.

_'Wolf respects you . . ._' a little voice at the back of his mind whispered. Alex closed his eyes, leaning over the sink, gripping the basic tight with both hands. Images of this morning flashed through his mind. It had been nice, to be so carefree and comfortable with the man and then . . . _'What am I going to do?_'

"Alex Rider?"

The teenage spy's back went rigid as he registered the presence of another person behind him and heard the barely-there Russian accent lacing the voice. _'Oh, not again._'

Taking a breath, he straightened up slowly, then turned to face the man who had approached him. Tall, with a thick brown beard and a compact, muscular build, not dissimilar to some of the soldiers he had seen at Brecon Beacons and a clear, confident goal visible in his eyes, this man was a threat; every inch of him and every instinct Alex had developed on his missions screamed this simple truth at him. The gun hidden in a holster under his coat, which Alex's keen eyes spotted when he lifted his arms, helped to get the message across too. Keeping a stoic, disinterested mask in place and pushing his anxiety right down, he replied calmly, "Yes. Who are you?"

"I am Kazimir Sokolov, at your service." The man answered, inclining his head, almost like a bow, his tone perfectly polite.

"The General sent you?"

A hint of surprise wormed its way into Sokolov's eyes. "You are well informed, Mr Rider. Yes, the General sent me to collect you. He has a matter he would discuss with you."

"Oh?" Alex asked, as if puzzled, bracing his legs and inclining his body slightly so the porcelain sink was digging into his back. "And what matter is that?"

"I am unaware, I was simply asked to escort you."

"And if I don't wish to see the General?"

"He said that if you proved – stubborn, shall we say, that I was to use any force necessary to bring you to him, but only as a last resort. I warn you, young man, I served in the Russian army for many years before joining General Sarov and I have brought allies with me." As if on cue, the toilet door swung open and two men entered, both roughly the size of bears, stepping forward to flank the man on either side. "You would do well not to force me to use that option. Now, if you would follow us."

He gestured vaguely in Alex's direction and the man on his right marched forward towards him, his hand reaching out to grasp Alex's arm. His body perfectly relaxed, Alex allowed him to get a grip. He took two steps forward in time with the man, then slipped on some a small puddle of water on the tiled bathroom floor. The man reached out to pull him up and abruptly found his own arm twisted in a cripplingly painful elbow lock, his waist forced to bend until he was facing the floor, which his face connected with suddenly when Alex kicked his leg out from under him, the crack of bone snapping echoing in the tiny bathroom.

With a roar of anger, his companion rushed at the teenager, swinging his fist with all the expertise and force of a professional boxer. Alex waited until it was nearly too late, then ducked, the man's knuckles smashing into the mirror above the sink, his momentum too great for him to stop. Howling in pain as the shards of glass became embedded in his skin, he blindly lashed out again as Alex stood erect once more. He leant back at the waist while keeping his feet still, the muscle-bound arm sailing clear of his face by no more than a centimeter. Cutting with the side of his hand, Alex slammed it into his opponent's throat, paralyzing his vocal cords. As his attacker clasped at his neck, he twisted his wrist and slammed the heel of his open palm into his chest, pushing him backwards a pace where his legs hit the shoulders of the first man, who had feebly crawled onto his hands and the knee that was not broken, sending them both to the ground with meaty smacks as he toppled over onto his back.

Turning, Alex found himself staring down the barrel of an army-issue handgun. Sokolov seemed entirely nonplussed by what had just unfolded in front of him as he eyed his groaning cohorts while they struggled on the ground. "My, my, you are talented, aren't you? But I doubt you have the ability to catch a bullet."

"And I doubt Sarov would be very happy if you shot me."

Sokolov nodded in reply, his eyes glancing away from Alex's face as the man he had hit in the throat used the wall to climb to his feet. "True, as I said, he would prefer it if – "

Alex threw himself on top of him, knocking his arm out of the way and attempting to wrench the weapon from his hand. Attempt being the operative word as he proved to be just as strong as he said he was, pushing Alex off of his torso, one hand fisting his shirt at the collar. Realizing he would be unable to disarm Sokolov, Alex covered the man's hand with his own and, pressing down on his index finger, squeezed the trigger. The gunshot rang out so loud in the confined space that it hurt Alex's ears, one side of the room enclosed in shadows as a light fixture exploded above their heads.

Startled, both the men and Sokolov jerked their heads up to see the damage Alex had caused. Punching the ex-soldier in the face and making him spit blood onto the tiled floor, Alex managed to finally get the gun free from his tight grip and leapt to his feet. He was out the door before any of them realized what he'd done.

Heart pounding, Alex raced down the corridor, desperately hoping he was going the right way to where K-Unit was waiting for him. The sounds of pins being knocked down reached his ears – but so did footsteps behind him. Swearing under his breath, Alex aimed the gun at the ceiling and fired twice in quick succession. Screaming split the air ahead of him. Smiling to himself, Alex knew he'd caused panic in the building.

He ran into the main area of the building to see dozens of people running for the exit, some still in their bowling shoes; he kept going, eyes darting around desperately for the soldiers. He nearly crashed into Wolf's chest as the man appeared in front of him, hands clamping onto his biceps.

"What's happening?" he roared into his ears above the civilians escaping.

"They're after me again!" Alex shouted back over the din.

Wolf looked over his head and swore; seizing hold of his wrist so hard Alex thought he might break it, he turned and dragged him towards the exits. Another gunshot echoed throughout the room, Alex could almost feel the bullet fly over their shoulders as his attackers gave chase. His own stolen gun was still hanging from his hand and he wondered if he would be able to accurately fire it like this and, more importantly, if he'd be able to bring himself to do it.

"Head's up!"

Alex looked up and, to his utter disbelief, saw that Fox was actually aiming a bowling ball at their legs. Wolf harshly dragged him out the way as Fox let it fly; it crashed into his attacker's shin bone, probably breaking it if the way he fell on the ground clutching it in agony was anything to go by. Wolf and Alex caught up with the others and together the five of them sprinted out the exit and into the car park, throwing themselves into Snake's car, the man himself stamping on the accelerator before the doors were closed and speeding away, narrowly missing a lamppost. Alex looked out of the rear window and could've sworn he saw Sokolov, standing immobile, staring after them as they escaped.

"Did you _actually_ attack him with a bowling ball, Fox? What, are we in some G-rated spy movie for kids or something?"

"Oh shut up, it worked and did a fair bit of damage too, apparently."

"But a _bowling ball_!"

"It's called innovation."

"It's called boll –"

"Eagle, where are your shoes?"

Utter silence greeted this question, broken by a screeched, "Oh, _bugger_!"

**A/N: Question, I got a review for chapter 11 saying that Wolf's smirking at Alex came across as creepy . . . did anyone else feel that way? It's really bothering me.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I've realized I'm making Snake a Flanderized pain in the ass; must make him nicer . . .**

**And yes, I know I've probably missed 101 mistakes, even though I've checked it through, but by now I reckon you guys want this so much you won't care. Much. Sorry about the delay *looks sheepish* Getting closer to the climax!**

**BTW, this is the last time I'll answer reviews from people that have not signed in, okay? It's a pain and I'm grateful to you guys but I really just want the contents of my story up as chapters and answer you all on a more personal level instead of like this.**

**Anon: He's in denial' he'll figure it out soon enough.**

**LoneWolfe: Thanks very much!**

**Anon: Good to know ****J**** I have made a few references throughout the story, but just to clarify, this happens in between Crocodile Tears and Scorpia Rising, so yes, Alex has his bullet wound.**

_Wolf's lips burned against Alex's, his hands leaving a fiery trail as they slid over his skin. Alex let out a quiet moan, bringing his arms up to loop around the soldier's neck, his legs trembling a little. Wolf slowly pushed him backwards against his pillows, gradually resting more of his weight against the boy, until he was laying flush on top of him. He put his hands behind his head to tug Alex's arms apart, lacing their fingers together and pressing Alex's arms down on either side of his head. He broke off the passionate kiss gently, smiling slightly as he their eyes met, grey looking into brown. Alex wet his lips nervously and Wolf's smile grew, shifting slightly so he could feel –_

Alex bolted upright in bed, panting as if he'd just run for his life (not quite awake enough yet to recall that he had in fact been doing just that a few hours ago) and stared into the darkness, his brown eyes wide in shock. _'What the hell was that?_'

Not that he needed to ask, of course, as he tore the confining sheets off of his legs and stared down between them, mortified. Where on earth had that come from? The image of Wolf's face as he had been yesterday, hovering over Alex, the two of them lying on the comfy couch, filled his mind's eye. He could feel the flush creeping up his neck and over his cheeks as he kicked his feet free from of the rest of the covers and flung his legs over the side, squirming with embarrassment as he felt the slimy liquid slither down his legs. After changing into a clean pair of boxers and once again donning his pajama trousers, Alex opened his bedroom door a crack, peeping through to see if anyone was up. He slid into the open-spaced hallway silently; inching slowly passed the prone forms of Eagle and Fox slumbering in the living room. _'Wolf's in his room_,' the teenager thought as he continued his journey towards the kitchen, his guardian's low rumbling snore following him, barely muffled by his door, _'so Snake must be on watch_.'

Embarrassingly enough, after the fiasco at the bowling alley, K-Unit had insisted on spending the entire night at Wolf's flat, with one person on sentry duty for an hour at a time as the others slept. Alex had offered to share the burden with the rest of them but they had been adamant about him "staying out of sight" as they put it so they could "keep him safe". Wolf, in particular, had been very forceful about it.

Arriving in the kitchen, Alex hung his soiled boxers over the sink, wincing at the sight of what he'd done. He'd hoped to wash them clean before laundry day so that Wolf wouldn't notice the addition (oddly enough, he wouldn't let Alex anywhere near the washing machine or the dryer, despite giving him free range over the culinary aspects) but his quick inspection told him that they were a lost cause. He dropped them in the bin, and then threw some fortunately left over pizza boxes from dinner (seeing as the small fridge Wolf owned didn't hold nearly enough food to satisfy four grown men and a teenage boy buzzing with adrenaline) on top, crushing them right down for good measure. Maybe he'd even take the rubbish out when it had to be emptied, just to make sure.

With a small sigh, Alex poured himself a glass of water and rounded the corner to head back to his bedroom – and walked straight into Snake.

Tightening his fingers as he felt the glass begin to slip from his grasp, Alex started back to avoid colliding and possibly knocking them both over, staring up into the Scottish man's face as he waited for him to move out of the way. He didn't.

"I'm sorry," the medic said without preamble.

With a sense of déjà vu, Alex frowned minutely at him. "About what?"

"About pressuring you over your injuries. I get it now. I have to earn your trust before I have any right to demand that of you. It's your body and if you don't want me to see it, I should respect that. " A wry smile tugged at the corners of Snake's mouth. "Besides, Wolf gave me a real dressing-down after you wondered off yesterday. I've learned better than to provoke him when he's that annoyed."

"He did?" Alex questioned, looking amazed. It didn't occur to him that Wolf would stick up for him, all though it really should have. An awkwardly familiar sensation that he didn't want to think about spread in his stomach.

"Yeah. Real protective, he was." His smile stretched into a grin. "And I'm willing to bet he was only saying to me what you were too polite to."

Alex hesitated and the SAS man laughed softly. "Knew it. Anyway, I'd like to forget that I've been a bit of a prick lately, if you're okay with that. I'll give it rest from now on, promise."

"Sure, Snake. I get why you were doing it." Alex nodded in agreement. Snake sent him an odd look, much as he had the last time they'd been conversing in the kitchen. "What?"

"You're a real mature kid, you know that?"

Alex shrugged. "I guess. Kind of hard not to be, with all the car chases and battles in bowling alleys."

Snake chuckled as he turned and walked down the hallway, Alex in tow. "I wouldn't call it much of a battle. Did you see what Fox did with his bowling ball? I've never seen that kind of maneuver out of Loony Tunes."

Alex smiled, "Me neither."

They stopped outside of Wolf's bedroom door. "Got to wake him for guard duty. Pretty quiet out there, all told."

"You guys didn't have to do this." Alex said, eyes locked on Wolf's door.

"We know, Cub." He raised a fist to pound on the door and the thought of talking to Wolf with his dream still in mind sent an almost painful jolt through Alex.

He quickly strode the last few steps to his own bedroom, calling, "Night, Snake," over his shoulder.

The somewhat startled man called, "Good night, Cub," after him just before he shut the door. Setting his glass on his bedside table, he leapt into his bed, pulling the covers right up to his nose and snuggling as far into his pillow as he could go. His grip tightened as he heard Wolf's voice, gravelly with sleep, through his door.

XXXXX

Four hours later, Alex strolled out of his room to the kitchen, fully dressed. He was not surprised to see all four men crowding the modest kitchen as they tried to drink their coffee and scrounged for something to eat. Soldiers were trained to be early-risers, after all.

"Morning, sunshine." Fox said easily, grinning at Alex's scowl as he ruffled his blonde hair affectionately. Batting the tall man's arm away from his head, Alex slipped deftly between them all to make himself some tea, murmuring a vague "Morning," to the room in general.

"How'd you sleep?" Eagle asked, obviously noting the faint shadows under the boy's eyes. Trying not to blush, he was about to reply when the man asked more questions. "How come you're up so early, anyway? Don't teenagers sleep till about noon?"

Alex quirked an eyebrow at him, trying to be annoyed and failing. "This is actually kind of late for me."

Wolf frowned at him over his coffee mug. "It's Saturday. You haven't got school."

Alex shrugged as he spooned a little sugar on top of his tea bag, raising his voice slightly to be heard over the whine of the kettle as the water boiled, "Just got into the habit, that's all. Don't want to oversleep when I do have school, after all."

Wolf nodded, satisfied and the four men dissolved into a conversation about some kind of action movie Snake and Eagle had seen on their last bout of leave and how unrealistic it was, while Alex poured his tea, silently observing them with his peripheral vision. Despite his past difficulty with them, they were surprisingly easy to get along with, if a little bossy sometimes. Earn their respect, and they'd treat you like one of their own. Alex failed to suppress his lips quirking up as the ironic thought occurred to him, so hid it by taking a sip of his drink, tuning back into the conversation.

"And the sound effects! I suppose they were trying to be realistic, but you couldn't hear a word the main bloke, whatshisname, was saying!"

"So very realistic then." Fox said flatly, the faint glimmer in his dark eyes giving away his amusement at his friend's indignation.

"It's a movie! If you don't know what's going on, why would you c – what's that noise?" Eagle looked around, as did the others, trying to discern the faint vibrating. With a jolt, Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile, flipping open the screen to read the text.

_Hey Alex, still cool if we can come over?_

"Text message? Who is it?" Eagle asked, sounding eager. He grunted when Snake smacked him on the back of the head. "What's that for?"

"Don't be so nosy!"

Eagle briefly considered sticking his tongue out at his best friend, but decided against it in favour of asking Alex again. "So who is it, Cub?"

Snake rolled his eyes behind Eagle's back as Alex glanced up. "It's my mate Tom." Alex looked at Wolf uncertainly. "He wants to know if he can still come over today."

The atmosphere in the room changed subtly as the men slipped back into soldier mode. "Not a good idea, Alex." Fox said gently, trying not to upset him. "We still don't know if it's safe for you and Wolf here, let alone involving another kid in it."

Alex's teeth lightly grazed his lip as he suppressed the urge to bite it, his eyes darting over to Wolf's solemn grey ones. His face was completely impassive as he placed his cup down on the counter and turned to his ward. "You want him to come over anyway." It wasn't a question.

Alex hesitated for a moment, then said. "Well, nothing's happened so far –"

"Yeah, nothing except you nearly getting kidnapped in the bowling alley!" Eagle interrupted, now utterly serious, like the rest of them.

Committed now, Alex continued. "Nothing's happened since then. You're all in here, so you obviously don't feel the need to be on watch anymore."

Fox frowned, "Well, no, but –"

"And there isn't really that big a chance that they know where we are, is there? I mean, this address should be classified, right?" A chorus of reluctant nods. "If they already knew where I was, they wouldn't have waited till I was out with all of you before they attacked, they would've done it when I was walking back from school by myself. And we got out of there so quickly, they would've had to have been really well prepared to have chased us here, but we didn't see anything."

"Doesn't mean they didn't do it, Cub." Snake said reasonably. Alex nodded, feeling slightly frustrated but careful not to show it. "And you wouldn't want this mate of yours getting hurt, now would you?" Alex shook his head in response, a well of guilt opening up in his chest, feeling utterly selfish for even suggesting it.

"I think it's a good idea."

Four heads snapped around in perfect, astonished unison to stare a Wolf, propped against the counter with his arms folded over his broad chest. After a long moment of silence, it was Eagle, unsurprisingly, who found his voice, "Are you crazy? We just discussed why –"

"The kid's got a point," Wolf interrupted smoothly, keeping his voice as non-confrontational as possible. This was his flat, not the field, after all. "None of us saw anything on our watches, did we? But if they are watching us somehow, we don't want them to think we're still on edge, do we? We want them to think we've lowered our guard, so they'll lower theirs."

The others murmured a vague agreement, though there was still a mutinous air about them. Picking up his mug again, Wolf gestured at Alex with it, almost like a toast. "Besides all that, the kid gets so little time with his friends. Hardly seems fair."

Alex's eyes narrowed as his guardian casually took a sip of his coffee. He liked these men and he wanted Tom and James round, sure, but he didn't want them feeling sorry for him. When he caught the soldier's eye, he gave him a conspiratorial wink. Surreptitiously looking at the other three men, he realized they now seemed a little remorseful and he realized they were about to give way. Without looking at his guardian, Alex smirked into his tea, positioning the cup at an angle where K-Unit couldn't see but Wolf could, the silent message, _'Clever, aren't you_?' shooting between them. Wolf mirrored his actions in a way that said, _'Yes, I am_,' loud and clear.

The other unit members, oblivious to the wordless conversation happening in front of them, appeared to come to a decision. "All right, fine, tell your friend he can come." Fox said at last.

Smiling, Alex nodded his thanks and whipped his phone out of his pocket; picking up his mug unconsciously, he strode back to his bedroom, head down as he typed his reply. Suddenly he stopped, remembering the glint in Eagle's eye as he had walked past. He darted back into the kitchen, the hand clenching his phone propped up again the empty doorframe marking the entryway. "What's the catch?"

Eagle grinned evilly. "We're stopping by later to meet your mate!"

Alex managed to catch his mug before it hit the floor. Just.

XXXXX

It was more than a little bit bizarre, Alex reflected as he rooted around in the dresser, hunting that elusive and damn irritating tie he was forced to wear at school, to watch two teenage boys and four full grown, massively muscular men, trying to socialize. He was pretty sure there was some kind of unspoken law of society against that. And if there wasn't, after listening to Eagle and Tom's intense debate about whether _Monty Python_ or _Horrible Histories_ was the superior example of comedic television, Alex was about ready to petition for one.

With a crow of triumph, Alex wrench the strip of material free from beneath a pile of his T-shirts and looped it around his neck, running out of his bedroom as he did so. He only noticed Wolf blocking the stairs when he nearly crashed into him. Cursing whoever decided to put those bloody stairs inside the flat, he jumped back in time to avoid colliding with his muscular chest and gave his guardian an inquisitively quirked eyebrow. Wolf responded with a partly exasperated and partly amused half-smile at his ward, shaking his head slightly.

"So getting up early on weekends to not oversleep?" he said loftily.

"Didn't work out, I know." Alex replied, rolling his eyes as he distractedly looked around for his school bag. He'd put it in the hall on Sunday night, didn't he?

He looked around when Wolf cleared his throat, only to have the bag chucked at him. Inwardly saying a quick thank you for his sharp reflexes, Alex snatched the bag out of the air to stop it from smacking him in the face, slinging the strap over his shoulder, and then glaring at Wolf.

The only reaction he got was for Wolf's lips to twitch again at the look he was getting, indicating the door behind him with a small jerk of his head. "Come on, I'll drive you."

He descended the stairs, Alex in tow. "You don't have to do that."

Wolf paused in the act of unlocking the door to shoot a quick smirk over his shoulder at the teenager. "Yeah, I do. Don't want to tick off that geography teacher of yours, do you?"

"Anymore?" Alex remarked dryly. Wolf chuckled lowly, leading the way to his car, Alex closing it behind him.

The ride to the school gates was in almost completely silence, but not in an awkward way. It was rather pleasant, actually. Granted, Wolf did slap his leg when he propped it against the dashboard, giving himself more leverage as he leant back in the front seat to get a better look out the back window (was that Fox's car behind them?) and growled at him to "respect the car" but he didn't seem all that mad, to be honest. Alex just contented himself with a mutter about "car nutters" and looked out the passenger window, completely missing Wolf's smile at his response.

As they pulled up outside the school gates, Alex reached for the handle when Wolf's voice stopped him, "What's your rush? You've got a bit of time."

Alex frowned at his guardian, then did a double take when he noticed the clock, his eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline. Turning an incredulous face to the man, he asked seriously, "Okay, tell the truth, how badly do the Met want to bust you for traffic violations?"

Wolf swatted him upside the head and, turning off the car, leant back in his seat. The mirth evaporated from his face and he tilted his head towards the teenager. "The guys coming round when your friends were there didn't bother you too much, did it? I tried to tell them, but you've seen what they're like when they get ideas in their heads."

Alex shook his head idly, "It's fine. Nice to know they care. I'm just not sure if I should be surprised or not at how well Eagle and Tom got along."

Wolf rolled his eyes, clearly thinking about the two-hour debate as well. "I'm not; I admit I'm still trying to recover from their rousing renditon of the 'Evil Emperor' song, though."

Alex snorted quietly. "Oh please, you got off easy. Try listening to 'Dick Turpin' during history class."

Wolf made a noise that resembled a muffled laugh, his eyes still locked on Alex's. After a minute or two, he said, "What classes do you have today, again?"

As Alex launched into a tirade against the Department of Education, he became aware of an odd buzzing somewhere by his ear. After a moment, he realized a fly had flown in through Wolf's wound-down window and had decided to settle on his door. Not pausing in his speech, he swatted the irritating creature away before turning his gaze back to Wolf. A minute later to noise was back as the rather foolish creature returned. Stopping momentarily, he waved at it again, once more sending it scuttling away. By the sixth time he did this, Alex totally lost his patience and pitched a full-on battle against the infuriating little insect, halting his tirade entirely. He was so wrapped up in the confrontation that he failed to notice an extremely amused soldier slump back against his window to watch his mini-war with a vaguely bemused expression.

Four minutes later, Wolf decided to intervene, despite the bizarre hilarity of it all, watching carefully to ensure Alex's flailing arms did not give him a black eye. Quick as a flash, he seized the teenager's wrist in a firm grip and pulled it down to rest on the stretch of seat between them. At the boy's puzzled expression, he raised an eyebrow and said in a controlled voice, "It's just a fly, Cub. It has a right to life too, you know," trying very hard not to collapse in a laughing fit.

A flush crept into Alex's cheeks and he looked away, muttering in a slightly sulky voice, "It's annoying."

"If you could justify wiping something off the planet because it was annoying, Eagle would have been doomed a long time ago."

Alex grinned. "You got a point there. Especially after their encore of "Stupid Death", remember that?"

Wolf grimaced. "Remember it? It's carved into my memory forever."

Alex chuckled at the man's horrified expression and they lapsed into silence. It was then he realized that Wolf had not let go of his wrist yet. The area of skin he held felt unusually hot. Alex hesitated, wondering if he ought to pull away or just ignore it. Wolf's grip slackened fractionally – and slid his hand up the back of Alex's, their fingers twining together loosely. Alex's breath caught in his throat and his eyes shot up to stare at the man. Wolf was gazing out of the windshield at the school office, not really seeming to see it.

"You were saying something about a maths test?" Wolf prompted quietly, still not looking at his ward.

After a pause, Alex wet his lips somewhat nervously and started talking again. "Uh, yeah, we did it on Friday, last lesson, and he said he was going to hand back the results today. I just hope he didn't notice Tom's supposedly subtle attempts to cheat off me."

Wolf snorted, the corner of his mouth quirking up. Feeling a tad more confident now, Alex carried on with his ranting until the first warning bell went off. He glanced down at their joined hands uneasily but Wolf let go and gripped the steering wheel before he could attempt to slide his hand free. He stared at the man a few moments more in confusion, before sending him a faltering smile when their eyes met. Hopping out the door, he strolled towards the school as quickly as he could without making it look like he was running away. When he was out of sight, Wolf slammed his forehead none-too-gently against the steering wheel.

"Well done, Wolf," he muttered sarcastically before putting his truck into gear and driving away.

XXXXX

Sokolov stood with his hands folded behind his back, shoulder's back and spine rigid as he awaited his General's orders. The ill man had been silent for some minutes now as he pondered the information he was given. Eventually, he spoke again, he voice raspy with the effort, "And you are sure these soldiers are not aware that you know where they are?"

"We did not follow them in the car after the – incident, sir. We had our man in the flat opposite check on them every half-hour and he confirmed that they kept watch over their leader's flat all night."

"And Alex?"

"He did not come out once he entered, sir, but my man saw him through the kitchen window in the early hours of the morning."

Sarov nodded several times, his eyes somewhat distant as he stared out at the wall. "And the man has resumed escorting Alex to school?"

"He did so this morning. I presume that after the precautions they took over the weekend that he intends to continue doing so."

"Indeed," Sarov's face took on an intense, almost hungry look as he posed his next question, "We will be ready by this Sunday, did you say?"

"Yes sir. Evening at the latest."

"Have everything prepared by then. You are certain MI6 are not watching the location?"

"Absolutely sir. My informant has been paying particular attention to that."

"Good. Then leave your most senior man in charge and take a unit with you to bring Alex there. I want him by noon at the latest. I should like some time in his company before we can move on."

"Yes sir."

**A/N: Just so we're clear, this happens from early morning Saturday through to Monday, okay?**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I said I wasn't going to answer any anonymous reviews and I'm not going to. No matter how much it hurts . . . *shudders* Just a nice little chapter to once again apologize for my terrible procrastination and further the plot. Hope you like it! We're getting a little angst near the end and I'm afraid I may have waxed poetic a tad; I do hope you'll forgive me for that.**

**Oh and this is on Wednesday of the same week, just to be clear.**

Wolf scowled a little as he looked around the flat. The high-ranking officer (name slipped his mind; really had to work on that) he was meant to be escorting today had suddenly contracted flu, so after he'd finished helping out with the paperwork, his superior told him he could have the rest of the day off. So now he was wandering around his flat, restless and bored; he'd always been a man of action after all and unless he was supremely relaxed for a particular reason, he wanted to be on his feet and doing something – _anything_. He'd almost rather do more paperwork. Almost.

As if in answer to his silent plea, the phone began to ring. Glancing at the ceiling briefly (he _really_ needed to fix that crack before the above floors came crashing down on his head) he strode into the kitchen where the wireless had last been dumped and answered it with a brief, "Hello?"

"Mr. Stephanidis?"

"Speaking."

"Ah, good afternoon, my name is Henry Bray, I'm the Headmaster of Brooklands Secondary. I understand you are the current legal guardian of Alex Rider?"

"Is he all right?" Wolf demanded urgently, a twisted sensation growing in his stomach at the thought of something happening.

"Well, that's really what I wanted to talk to you about, Mr. Stephanidis. A few of Alex's teachers have remarked upon his present behaviour and that of some of the other students towards him and we are a little concerned."

Wolf frowned, pressing the telephone a bit tighter to his ear, "You mean he's being bullied?"

"That is one issue we would like to discuss. Would it be at all possible for you to come in for a meeting with me?"

"I can be there in ten minutes." Wolf said decisively. The Headmaster readily agreed, sounding a tad startled by the change in tone.

Hanging up, he dumped the phone on the kitchen counter and snatched the keys of the hook by the fridge, marching out of his flat to his car. Clenching the strips of metal in his hand so hard he nearly broke the skin of his palm, he tried desperately to ignore the nauseous feeling churning within him and what it could mean.

XXXXX

_Came to pick you up, parked by the gate_

Wolf sent the text and leant back in the driver seat, idly drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Glancing at his watch, he saw he still had another five minutes before the last school bell of the day rang. Hopefully he could use the time to figure out how to broach the topic with his ward.

Sighing quietly, his eyes slid closed and his head tilted back as he recalled the rather painful two-hour conversation he had with Alex's Headmaster. He didn't know meetings of that sort could even go on for that long, but apparently Alex was a special case. Though really, didn't the man have eight-hundred-odd other students he needed to take care of?

Not for the first time, Wolf found himself cursing MI6 and their rather weak excuses for Alex's absences and, more importantly, the effect their interference had on the boy's life. He had missed so much school that his teachers were always breathing down his neck about his GCSE's and, by extension, his A Levels in future years, their patience tested by the unbelievable stories they were told and their confusion that such a conscientious student could suddenly change so radically. But what really made Wolf's blood boil was the fact that Alex's disappearances had alienated him from some of his old friends and sparked some nasty rumors about him. The soldier had come very close to losing his temper completely when he'd been told about the school secretary, Miss Bedfordshire, and how her therapy theory had been circulated around the school.

"If you're worried about him being bullied, telling stories like that is hardly going to help, is it?" the man had hissed through clenched teeth as he glared at the woman in question. She fidgeted uncomfortably under his stare before the Headmaster reclaimed Wolf's attention.

Unfortunately, the sinking feeling in his gut told him that _he_ hadn't done the kid any favours either. Only an idiot wouldn't have noticed the suspicious look Mr. Bray had given him when he'd reacted so badly to what he was being told. He didn't like the way the man kept pressing questions along the lines of, "How long exactly have you been responsible for Alex?" and "Why was he placed in your care?" which, given the circumstances, were not easy to answer. It probably showed, too.

Being informed of the incident that had occurred during lunchtime today which prompted his summons to the school was the final straw. He left the office at a quarter to three in a black mood, fully expecting to have allegations of abuse or something along those lines thrown at him in the coming weeks. After slamming his door shut with far too much force, he'd noticed that it was only half an hour until school finished, so decided that as he was already here he might collect his ward at the same time.

The shrill sound of the afternoon bell cut sharply through Wolf's musing, making him wince at the racket it made. He was so glad he didn't go to school anymore. The trickle of escaping students slowly turned into a flood and Wolf found himself glaring at anyone who came too close to his precious truck. Yes, it looked like something out of an action movie, but that did not mean it was on display for the general public.

"There's a look that could kill. Rough day?" Alex asked as he appeared at the window and hopped into the car.

"You could say that," Wolf muttered darkly.

"Want to talk about it?" Alex said more gently, inquisitive eyes on his guardian.

Wolf just stopped himself from shaking his head in exasperation – or swearing his head off, '_After what happened to you at lunch, you're worried about me?_' The knots in his stomach twisted more tightly as he realized that Alex probably had no intention of telling him about that; they twisted further when it occurred to him that things of this nature had probably happened before, unbeknownst to the teachers. What he actually said was, "We'll talk later."

An emotion flashed in Alex's serious eyes so quickly Wolf was unable to identify it. The boy just nodded, "Okay."

XXXXX

Laughing in delight, Alex began to reset the board while Wolf buried his head in his hands. "Stop moaning and roll your dice." Alex ordered cheerfully, tossing one of his own onto the surface.

Straightening up in a visible effort to regain his composure, the man did as he was told, making the first move as his four beat Alex's two. "You're not the one getting hammered by someone eight years younger than you," he grumbled bad-temperedly.

Trying unsuccessfully to smother a grin, Alex shrugged. "It was your idea to play in the first place."

The two of them sat cross-legged on the living room floor, a Backgammon set in front of them, a deck of cards laying haphazardly to the left and two more games behind Alex's back. He didn't even know Wolf owned any board games before he'd suggested they spend some time together.

Wolf muttered something ungracious that Alex didn't quite catch in response to his logic, glaring as Alex took one of his pieces off. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing." Wolf said darkly, his eyes narrowing as he failed to get back onto the board.

"You're such a sore loser."

"Oh, be quiet."

Alex smiled, concentrating on the game, but glancing up through his lashes at the man when it was his turn. He could sense that something had been bothering the man ever since he picked him up and he wanted to know what it was. Despite the fact that they'd been playing for nearly four hours straight (as a surreptitious look at his watch revealed) since they got back to the flat, they still hadn't talked about it and it was worrying him. He didn't like it when Wolf wasn't happy. Sulking he didn't mind, but not genuinely unhappy.

"What's up?" Alex began uncertainly as he got all his counters home.

"I'm being knocked off my pedestal by my freaking ward!" Wolf exclaimed in comical horror as he estimated how long it would take to get his own remaining pieces home.

Swallowing the laugh that was bubbling up his throat, Alex said seriously, "No, I mean with you. You said we were going to talk about it later and we – haven't." he finished lamely, not sure how else to say it.

Wolf did not appear to react but he seemed noticeably more alert to Alex's eyes. He finished moving two of his counters along the board before he spoke, keeping his eyes locked on the felt surface as he did so, "I had a meeting today."

"Oh?"

"With your Headmaster."

Alex went very still, his hand frozen in mid-air. After a few seconds, he asked quietly, "What did Mr. Bray say?"

"He's concerned about your absences and your schoolwork."

Alex swallowed heavily, somehow managing to stop his arm and voice from shaking as he answered, "I figured that was going to crop up eventually."

"Don't worry about it." Alex's head jerked up in surprise. "I'm not going to rant at you about it; if you were any other kid I probably would, but you're not and the circumstances around you are – difficult. I get it and I know it bothers you enough as it is. If you ever want any help with something that you're having problems with, come ask me or the guys. Okay?"

After a moment, Alex smiled and murmured, "Yeah, I will," for once thinking MI6 actually did him a favour in placing him with Wolf.

"The incident in the canteen at lunchtime, however," Alex looked up once again, straight into Wolf's dark grey eyes, stormy with suppressed emotion and felt something inside of him shrivel up, "We are going to talk about."

Alex gulped inaudibly, feeling cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. "It was nothing," he managed eventually. "It was just – "

"We'll get into what it was or was not in a moment," Wolf interrupted, his voice deceptively calm. "What I want to know is why didn't you tell me the second you got in the car this afternoon?"

Alex frowned minutely, "I could see something was already bothering you; I didn't want to add to it."

Wolf took a deep breath, "Cub, _I know_ what happened. If something like this happens again, you tell me. I don't care if you think I'm already pissed or if you call me in the middle of a war meeting or even if you skip the rest of school and come home for the day, _you tell me_, understand?"

"But if you're worrying about something more important – "

"_Alex!_" Wolf cut himself off before he could start shouting, a vein throbbing in his forehead, almost concealed by his hair. "I'm going to say this only once, so listen closely. Nothing is more important than you."

Disbelief coursed through Alex, alongside something stronger and strangely _warmer_ than anything he'd ever experienced before. He opened his mouth and shut it almost immediately when Wolf turned his intense gaze on him, instead simply nodding, his eyes giving away his puzzlement. Wolf noticed but didn't say anything; the last thing he wanted was an argument. He'd get through to him eventually.

The soldier cleared his throat and said in a somewhat forcedly jovial tone, "So, while we're having this little heart-to-heart, anything he want to talk about?"

Alex's brown eyes flashed back to his guardian as they resumed their game. "Like?"

"I don't know. I'm trying to be – well, _parental_ here, I suppose, but it's not really one of my strong suits." Alex half-smiled and picked up his dice. "How about – girls?"

Alex dropped his dice. He momentarily lost the ability to breathe as he stared at the man, aghast. Wolf caught his look and, misinterpreting the reasons behind it, flushed dully, "I suspect that's one field I've got more experience in than you. Do you want any – advice? You've never mentioned a girlfriend to me before. Isn't there anyone you like?"

_He stared at the pale arm that encircled his waist, felt the gentle breath of the boy laying beside him in the bed as he snuggled closer in his sleep, exhaling on the back on Alex's neck._ The teenager swallowed heavily, his heart pounding painfully against his ribs. Fighting to get his body under control, he gasped out, "Th-there was . . . someone."

Wolf looked up curiously and Alex tried very hard to make it look like he wasn't about to keel over. "But we ended it. Weeks ago."

Wolf held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded and started to glare at the board again. "Okay. You ever want to talk about it, I'm here, all right?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Wolf."

XXXXX

Alex stared at his bedroom ceiling, cloaked in total darkness and feeling suffocated. He knew the man had only been trying to help; to be friendly, but how could when he didn't know? Alex didn't even know how he felt anymore for crying out loud!

_'Now that's not _quite_ true, is it?_'

He forcefully crushed that thought, or at least tried to, feeling like he was about to cry. He rolled over onto his stomach, lashing out in a sudden surge of anger at himself, punching his pillow into a more squashed-up shape and burying his face in it. '_Get ahold of yourself – you didn't cry on any of your missions and you're not going to over this either!_'

But even as he had the thought, he came to the conclusion that nothing on any of his missions, none of the threats, the fear, the betrayals, the injuries, none of it could possibly be as painful as this wonderful and terrible feeling he had in his heart. His thoughts drifted to the intensity of Wolf's eyes as he had stared at him, the protectiveness in his voice, remembered the way he'd confided in him about his life, the easy familiarity they now shared . . .

Desires, deep and animalistic, surged within Alex, tainted by his own fear and doubt. _'Oh God, Wolf . . .'_ His hand slipped out from where he'd tucked it under his chest as he gave in, travelling down his body and sliding between his thighs, '_I'm so screwed . . ._'

XXXXX

Wolf prowled around in the kitchen, trying not to make too much noise as he mentally screamed at himself. He took a long sip of water, resting the icy glass against his forehead in an attempt to cool himself down but it was no good. Heat was pulsing through his veins, wave by wave. He'd become a soldier to do good in the world but at the moment all he wanted to do was hunt down that fucking little rat who dared to do that to Alex and tear him to shreds. Who did he think he was? What gave him the right to humiliate, to _hurt _Alex the way he had?

His rage mixed in with a lingering guilt he felt from his behaviour at Brecon Beacons. He knew Alex had forgiven him for it, but still, hearing about that evil little twat's actions had brought some unpleasant memories to the surface, ones Wolf did not want to face right now. The fact that the teenager didn't even tell him, that he had to learn about it from someone else just made it worse. Did Alex not trust him? And that rubbish about something being more important – how could the thought even cross the boy's mind?

Wolf knew how, though. There wasn't a single relevant adult in his life that had not used or abused the teenage spy in some way, perhaps barring that housekeeper of his. Wolf's eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about it. Jack hadn't called Wolf at all; he knew Alex occasionally had a chat with her on his mobile, but shouldn't she had called him personally, to make sure Alex was being well looked after and not just lying so he wouldn't inconvenience her? That bothered Wolf.

After a moment, he shook his head and set the glass in the sink for the morning. "I'm getting real paranoid about this . . ." he muttered to himself as he stalked off towards his room. He paused before crossing the threshold, however, and looked over at Alex's closed bedroom door. Suddenly he had the weirdest urge to make sure the boy was truly all right and not just lying to him either. Before he really thought about what he was doing, he carefully stepped over and eased the door open silently.

Alex was fast asleep on his side facing Wolf, snuggled up so far into his duvet that only the bridge of his nose and his closed eyes were visible, his blonde fringe curling over the lids. He shifted as the beam of light from the hallway cut through his bedroom but did not wake up. Warmth spread throughout Wolf's chest and despite his better judgement, he moved further into the room, his shadow blocking the glow as Alex settled again.

Now that he was closer, Wolf could see under a gap in the sheets behind Alex's head. Today's bruises were just rising along the boy's back. Face dark, he reached out and tugged the sheets back up hide the fresh markings, fury swirling inside of him. He began to pull his hand back, then stopped. Haltingly, Wolf raised his hand again and stroked the strands of hair away from Alex's face with the lightest of touches.

There were probably a hundred things Wolf wanted but at this precise moment he couldn't think of anything besides his desire to protect Alex from the world.

**A/N: There now, that wasn't too bad, was it? Does anyone on here watch the US TV show Once Upon a Time? I'm thinking of something along those lines, but with an Alex Rider spin – what do y'all think?**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Here it is, the chapter you've all been waiting for! No, it's not the climax/finale of the story, but it's the turning point! Every chapter after this one if crucial – no more fillers! Hope you like it or you've been wasting your time reading my stuff :)**

Wolf closed his eyes as he tilted his head back so it rested against the tiles. A steady stream of hot water pounded against his bare skin, effectively blocking his thoughts out his head. Not why he took a shower, of course, but a welcome side-effect, especially considering the entirely inappropriate ideas that had been going through his head for the past two days and if he was honest with himself, probably even longer than that, though he'd suppressed them rather well. But eventually, the thoughts began to probe their way back into his brain and he decided to get out before he either drowned or racked up a water bill large enough to break his bank account. He strolled out of the bathroom, lazily rubbing at his short black hair with a towel, a faint steam mist following behind him. Noticing the living room door was open, he wandered in their instead of his bedroom to find his ward perched on the far corner of the window, reading a book that had clearly been thoroughly read dozens of times before and was looking more than a little battered.

Alex looked up through his fringe (he really needed to get that cut) at his shirtless chest very briefly before focusing on the literature in front of him. "Why take your jeans in but nothing else?" he asked idly.

Wolf shrugged despite knowing the boy couldn't see the gesture. "Feels too restrictive after being in the shower."

Alex nodded vaguely, eyes still glued to the pages in his lap. Wolf plonked himself down heavily on the couch and leant back into the cushions, sighing quietly. Alex glanced at him out of the corner of his eye for a second, "Another rough day?"

Wolf shook his head carelessly, "Nah, just didn't get a lot of sleep last night, that's all."

Alex turned a page nonchalantly, "Something on your mind?"

Images of his fleeting dreams and persistent thoughts over the last couple of days asserted themselves at the forefront of his mind. Despite himself, Wolf tensed and snapped, "No."

Alex didn't react. He just sat silently and continued reading. Wolf's frown slipped from his face and he felt a little guilty. Urging his mouth to smile, he shuffled closer on the couch and asked casually, "So what are you reading?"

"Wuthering Heights."

Wolf blinked. "Okay. Why?"

"It's the A Level reading material. And yes, I am aware I haven't finished GCSE yet." Alex added as Wolf opened his mouth, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "Tom doesn't know what he wants to do for A Level's besides dropping Maths and Science, so he decided to sample a little bit of everything and see what's good. Problem is he already struggles with the stuff he's got to do now, so he asked me to check out the subject matter for a few things and see what I think."

Wolf nodded several times in silence and then said, "Why didn't you just help him with his homework?"

"I haven't been here for half the stuff, have I?"

"Yeah, but you've already caught up on what you missed; you basically teach yourself everything anyway. Evan was saying only the other day how much you remind him of how Sam used to be during their school days."

"Which was meant to be a compliment, I'm sure." Alex commented dryly.

Wolf grinned crookedly. "Undoubtedly. I thought he said he was cutting school as soon as he could? Why's he checking out A Level's?"

Alex sighed, a frown creasing his brow. "It's his mum. Since his dad walked out and they got the divorce more or less sorted, she's trying to make it up to him by practically taking control of everything in his life, from school to how often he sees me and James. He's tried to tell her that he doesn't want to go back but she's convinced it's some kind of rebellion to get back at her and Mr. Harris for splitting bf bfbfnbfn "

Wolf raised his eyebrows. "_Is_ he upset that they broke up?"

Alex looked at him incredulously. "Are you kidding? He was dancing on air when it finally happened. Specifically since that means they stopped screaming at each other and dragging him into their fights."

"That's why, then. She's compensating."

"Doesn't mean Tom has to like it."

Wolf hummed lightly in agreement, his gazing dropping down once again to the little green book in the teenager's lap. "So. Wuthering Heights. You like it?"

Alex hesitated, "It's – interesting, definitely. I wouldn't mind studying it, let's put it that way. I'm only up to page a hundred and thirty-three, though. "

Wolf stared at him for a few moments. "What's it about?" He asked finally.

"Seriously?" Alex said, his gaze meeting his guardian's once again, the peculiar strain that had appeared in his posture vanishing so Wolf could not be sure it had been there in the first place. "Isn't the story of Wuthering Heights pretty much public domain by now?"

Wolf gestured vaguely with his hands, "All I know is it's about a bloke named Heathcliff and someone called Cathy, that's about it. So what happens?"

Alex's smile slowly slipped away as he resumed reading over the pages. His brown eyes took on an odd, almost glazed quality, not really focused on what was in front of him. The hand holding the book in his lap tightened nearly imperceptibly. "It's about falling in love with the wrong person." He finally offered quietly. Wolf felt something coil up inside his gut, hard and cold. "Then they get separated, because of the values of the time and Catherine's own selfishness. It tears them both apart."

It was like someone had pumped ice water through his veins in place of blood. Wolf felt his nerves freeze over and his lungs constrict until breathing was impossible. It felt like an eternity, but in reality was a mere minute before Alex spoke up again, "But, as I said, I haven't finished it yet." His voice was steady apart from the slightest tremor on the last word and it was enough to jolt Wolf back to reality; he shook himself internally, wondering why on earth an innocent description of a romance novel would affect him so badly.

Regardless of his determination to squash the memory of the overwhelming sensation, Wolf couldn't help but feel curious. He inched closer still to his ward and craned his head slightly, trying to subtly read over his shoulder. As he squinted, Alex rolled his eyes, a sardonic smile on his lips. Without preamble, he scooted towards the soldier until he was pressed against his side and turned his torso around so that Wolf could read more easily. Muttering embarrassed thanks, the man lifted his left arm and draped it on the couch behind Alex's head so the teenager could rest more comfortably against his side.

They sat quietly for several long moments, the quiet that had settled over the flat only broken by briefly asking if it was okay to turn the page. Somewhere around the hundred and fourties, Wolf felt the tension take hold of Alex again, as they were pressed together from shoulder to knee, but attributed it to the teenager being engrossed in the passionate writing they were both reading, just as he was. It was only when they reached the next chapter that the spell was broken and Wolf realized he had unconsciously dropped his arm from the back of the couch to around Alex's neck, his large hand resting half on the boy's shoulder, his fingers brushing over the top of his chest.

He pondered over retracting his limb but decided that he really didn't want to. His attention no longer focused on the literature before them, he kept his grey eyes on the young man beside him. Without fully thinking about it, he lifted his left hand off the boy's torso and, twisted it around so his fingertips grazed Alex's cheek. The teenager swallowed, his gaze on the book in hand but his eyes remaining still instead of moving side to side. Barely registering what he was doing, the man stroked the well-defined cheekbone under his fingers gently, the faint whisper of a touch. He pulled his hand back higher so it slid around the edge of his ear into his blonde hair.

Breathing so shallow it appeared to not be happening at all, Alex turned his head to face Wolf, their eyes meeting. Wolf lowered his hand to let it rest on the back of Alex's neck, playing with the short strands of hair at the top. After a moment he stopped, instead simply laying his palm on the curve of muscle, the appendage heavy and warm against the fair, suddenly clammy skin. The rest of the world melted away from the two males as they looked on. Their eyes, dilated and dark with emotion, grew closer to each other as they leaned in, the space between them gradually disappearing. Their lips touched for the briefest of seconds, so that neither of them realized it had happened, before the front door was flung open so forcefully that it slammed into the opposite wall, the savage bang making them jump away from each other.

'_Always in the way!_' Alex's mind screamed in frustration as he leapt away from the older man to resume his previous position at the end of the couch, jerking the book up so that it covered his face from view. '_Why the hell did Wolf give Fox a key?_'

Wolf shot to his feet and moved towards the distraction provided by his unit members' bickering on the staircase, away from his ward, his heart slamming painfully hard against his ribcage, over and over. He just managed to recompose his facial features into the blank mask all soldiers perfected during training before Eagle bounced on the top stair and spotted him.

Grinning widely, he yelled, "Get a shirt on, Chris my man, we're hitting the town!"

"What?" Wolf asked flatly, his habitual frown deepening his brow.

Eagle ignored the expression on his leader's face, cheerful smile still firmly in place. "Don't give me that look – you've been cooped up here too long, you're in danger of beginning to collect cats and yell at neighbourhood kids to get off your lawn."

Wolf raised an eyebrow, then internally winced at the fact that he'd picked up using the gesture from Alex. "One, I don't have a lawn, two, there are no kids living around this area, three, I hate cats and four, you are insane. Good bye."

He turned his back on his the other man to re-enter the room, instantly regretted the action, then let out a strangled grunt as two firm hands slammed onto his shoulders and roughly yanked him back. He spun around the glare at Eagle, who announced loudly, "You forgot about Cub. He lives here!"

'_As if I could ever forget that . . ._' In a voice of long-suffering, Wolf asked, "Out of my entire response, that's the bit you choose to acknowledge?"

Eagle shrugged again, "After all of our missions together, I've learned to block out all but the important things that you say."

"Funny," Wolf said wryly, "that's exactly what everybody in the SAS does with you."

"Which means we ignore _everything_you say!" Fox laughed. The scandalized Eagle faced the two remaining men to defend his injured honour, which quickly dissolved into a rather juvenile debating contest, until the pounding in his skull grew harsher, at which point Wolf took charge with characteristic brusqueness. "What the hell do you lot want?"

The ever-sensible Snake intervened. "Idiot over here got the bright idea for us all to go to a club tonight and celebrate."

"Celebrate _what_?"

Snake shrugged. "Restraining ourselves from killing him in his sleep?"

"These jokes are really getting – why'd you specify in my sleep?"

Before the trio could spiral into yet another argument, Wolf interrupted. "Cub's not old enough to get into a club."

Eagle rolled his eyes, "Oh come on, he'll be with us!"

"So?"

"So I doubt anyone'll be brave – or dumb – enough to make a fuss," The soldier explained with a somewhat feral grin. Wolf frowned at his friend and Snake began to shake his head, looking like a mother-hen attack was coming, when Alex's voice floated out from the living room. "Why don't you guys just go and leave me here?"

Wolf jerked around to look at the teenager and managed it for about three seconds before he was forcefully shoved aside by the now-eager Eagle, who bounded up to the boy excitedly. "Really? You don't mind being by yourself?"

Alex shrugged indifferently, "Sure. Go, have fun. No need to mess with your plans just 'cause I can't go."

Before he could be restrained, Eagle lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Alex in a bear hug, lifting him clean out of his seat and dancing a few steps. "You are awesome! Don't worry, we'll all do something together this weekend or whenever, yeah?"

"That's really not necessary!" Alex gasped out, trying to pry himself free of Eagle's vice-like grip. The man may act goofy but he was _strong_. He was currently sporting a (in Alex's opinion) maniacal gleam in his eye as he deposited the now rather deflated boy back onto the couch unceremoniously. Spinning merrily on his heel, he strutted back out into the hall and down the stairs. "Come on, Wolf, make yourself presentable and let's go! I'm driving!"

Snake and Fox both popped their heads around the living room door to give Alex sympathetic and affectionate looks, before following their erratic team member out of the flat. Wolf shook his head at their antics, then slowly turned back to his ward, his anxiety showing on his face. Alex held his gaze but was unable to stop himself from fidgeting nervously. After a moment, the man spoke up, "I don't have to go out, you know. If you want me to stay . . ."

Alex dropped his eyes from the soldier's. "No. I don't want to mess up your plans."

"They weren't _my_plans – "

"You told me to spend time with my friends, remember? You should do the same. Have fun." At last Alex lifted his head and managed a small smile that appeared to be only half-genuine to Wolf's eyes. The man hesitated; a part of him was desperate to flee the flat, to get some distance, but another part was loudly insisting that he stay. The decision was effectively made for him when Fox's voice bellowed through the front door, making them both jump, "C'mon, Wolf! What's the hold up?"

"I'm coming!" he yelled back. He gave his ward a half-smile, trying to feel happy about going out with his friends. "I'll keep my phone on me; if there's a problem or you want me to come home, give me a ring."

Alex nodded in an almost casual manner, "Will do."

'_No you won't . ._ .' Wolf lingered for a moment longer, then darted into his bedroom and pulling on a black shirt picked from his closet at random, and making a detour to the kitchen to grab his keys before running down the stairs and out of the flat.

XXXXX

Wolf was very much regretting his compliance with his teammates' request. Any other night, he may have actually enjoyed, or more likely not been entirely put-off by, this overly-loud club filled with sweaty, drunken strangers, most of which seemed unable to dress themselves or perhaps simply colour-blind. The multi-coloured strobe lighting stung his eyes, a valuable excuse for why he sat nursing his beer for several hours, head down and lost from the world. This afternoon's little scene was swirling around in his head, over and over. It could only have been fifteen minutes, maybe less, but it beat it's way to the forefront of his mind despite his attempts to bury it and stayed there for the rest of the night. He couldn't stop thinking about the feelings aroused by their proximity, the look in the boy's eyes when they stared at each other, Alex's reaction at his touch . . .

'_Enough_.' Wolf's jaw tightened at he made his resolution. He was a man of action. He would tackle this the same way he did everything: full-on and doggedly. Before he did, however, there was a very important query he had to make. He nodded once, firmly, to himself and picked up his glass, draining the remainder of the liquid down in one gulp. He stood and made his way through several couples to the bar where his friend had just gone to get a refill. Grasping him tightly by the forearm, he half-shouted in his ear, "I need to talk to you!"

He turned and strode forwards, without waiting for a response, tugging his unit member behind him until he got to an emergency exit. Vaguely recognizing the sound of the door being closed after them, he looked around at the dark alleyway they found themselves in for several long minutes.

"So . . . what do you want to talk about all of a sudden?"

Wolf pondered how to bring the subject up tactfully or at least subtly, then gave up. "You're gay, right?"

Eagle's eyebrows shot up. "Yes, you know that. How is it relevant?"

Wolf fidgeted under the man's uncharacteristically stern stare. "How did you know you were . . . you know?"

"I started fantasizing about blokes." Was Eagle's deadpan response. "What's up with you? You've never asked for details before." A strange look came over his face, half disbelieving, half bemused. "You're not questioning your sexuality, are you?"

Wolf hesitated, averting his gaze from his friend's inquisitive amber eyes to a piece of graffiti on the wall behind him. "Is it possible to be gay and, well, not, at the same time?"

"I'm not following you."

The soldier let out a low growl of frustration, rubbing one hand over his face, kneading at the skin around his eyes. "I mean, is it possible to be heterosexual but . . . but still be attracted to one male in particular? Only him?"

Eagle paused, mulling the question over. After what felt to Wolf like an excruciatingly long time, he finally said, "I think it could be possible."

Wolf's head jerked up. "Really?"

Eagle shrugged, looking a little uncertain. "Well, yeah. When I was first figuring things out a couple years ago, I went on an LGBT website and came across a girl who'd been heterosexual her whole life, but thought she was in love with her cousin's female best friend. And human sexuality isn't as neatly categorized as we'd all like to think." His sharp eyes fixed onto his team leader. "What's going on, Chris? Have you met a man?"

He was unable to meet his friend's eyes. "I don't know, Evan. I'm confused."

After a moment, the auburn-haired man nodded, reaching over to pat Wolf on the shoulder sympathetically. "Yeah, I get it, mate. If you ever need to talk, you know how to reach me."

The soldier forced his lips to curl into what he was sure was a ghastly fake smile. "Sure. Thanks." With one last puzzled look his way, Eagle turned and went back into the club, leaving it open a crack so Wolf could get back in. The thought didn't even cross his mind. His face blank, he stared at the dirty bricks in front of him, half-covered in shadow and wanted desperately to tear his hair out and scream in pure frustration. It was true, he'd met someone. He'd re-met Alex. He knew him now, wanted to know him now, wanted to make him happy, keep him safe, tell him that at last he'd realized what an idiot he'd been and that he lo –

'_NO!_' his mind came to a screeching halt. '_That is NOT what's happening here! You're his guardian, you care about him a lot, there's nothing wrong with that. Don't over-think things. Get a grip.'_

He nodded to himself, very slowly, eyes glazed over. He was being hasty. Perhaps some part of him still felt guilty because he'd bullied the kid when he hadn't deserved it, felt sorry for him because of the way he was treated and since they'd settled into an affectionate, trusting relationship with surprising speed, his imagination was running away with itself, that was all. The amount of alcohol he'd consumed in an effort to forget wasn't exactly helping things either. He needed to calm down; he needed to think about this logically. He wished fervently that his heart would stop beating so hard.

The door swung open again, making him jump. He silently cursed himself for being so lost in thought he'd stopped paying attention to his surroundings and settled his eyes on the newcomer. It was a woman, probably in her mid-twenties, who had clearly had one too many to drink, if the way she was tottering on her high-heels was anything to go by. She glanced up, spotted him standing in the middle of the alleyway and paused. Pursing her lips slightly, she gave him a quick assessing stare that took in his handsome face, muscular build and broad shoulders and smiled.

"Hello there," she said coyly, tossing her long brown hair over her shoulder. "What you doing out here all by yourself?"

Wolf shrugged, feeling on edge for reasons he had no clue how to even begin identifying. "Needed some fresh air. Why are you out here?"

"Same." The mystery woman nodded, attempting to look bored, which was somewhat undermined by her seemingly inability to tear her eyes from Wolf's lower regions. "Friends dragged me here," she offered when Wolf remained silent. "They said the best thing to do after a break-up is to jump into the sack with some bloke, no strings attached."

Wolf's grey eyes slid over to her. She now openly watched him, her shoulders pressed against the doorframe, her lower body angled outwards, long legs accentuated by her short, silky red skirt. "Are you coming onto me?"

The woman shrugged, smirking coquettishly, "Is it working?"

Wolf paused, his heart beating riotously in his chest, his mind screaming, the head pounding and decided that he just wanted to not think anymore. He'd had enough. A smirk slipped onto his face as he stalked forwards. "Why the hell not? No strings, you said, right?"

She shook her head slowly, sultry smile still in place. "No strings."

Taking her bare arm he lead her back into the club so they could tell their respective friends not to worry about them and strode off towards the club's exit. Wolf could feel Eagle's accusing stare burning a hole between his shoulder blades as he walked away and found he could not properly relax as the pair of them hopped into the taxi for his flat.

XXXXX

Alex's eyes snapped open as he heard the front door slam closed. Vaguely registering voices, he stretched and rubbed at his eyes. The book fell off of his lap and hit the ground with a thud, startling him slightly. Realizing how late it was, he forced himself up right and stumbled forwards, unsuccessfully attempting to stifle a yawn. '_At least I get to say goodnight to Wolf before I go to bed_.'

He pushed open the mostly-closed living room door, lazy smile in place and froze in his tracks. Wolf was standing at the top of the stairs, working his jacket off his shoulders with some difficulty, as some woman in a clingy red skirt and strappy black top was attached to him at the lips, running her hands up and down his torso, scrapping through his shirt with her sharp-looking, painted fingernails. Alex felt something tighten painfully in his chest at the sight; his hands were starting to shake and he couldn't bring himself to look away from this terrible, horrifying sight.

Wolf detached himself from the woman, who began fiddling with his belt, her head tilted downwards so Alex couldn't see her face. His guardian turned towards his bedroom door – and saw Alex standing, still as a statue, absorbed in their antics. It was Wolf's turn to freeze, his jaw dropping down slightly, eyes widening. They stared, for several long, long moments, into each other's eyes, before the woman seemed to realize that something was going on. She frowned at him in confusion, then followed his gaze. She gave a little start of surprise, then attempted a friendly smile, stepping forwards. Even from that one movement, Alex could see she was totally drunk; besides which, he could smell the alcohol on her. "Uh hi," she said awkwardly, "Sorry. Didn't mean to surprise you, kid." She turned her head to stare in puzzlement at Wolf, "You didn't say you had a kid."

"He's not mine," Wolf said, his hoarse voice coming out harsh. Alex couldn't stop himself from flinching a little at the tone, trying desperately to swallow back his pain. Wolf, despite his own less-than-sober state, seemed to notice, as he finally jimmied open his bedroom door and basically pushed the woman in under the pretence of guiding her, muttering audibly, "Let me talk to him for a moment." She nodded and closed the door behind her.

They were left alone. Silence reigned for an excruciatingly long few moments before Wolf said abruptly, "Sorry. I forgot you."

Thinking that that flippant comment shouldn't have hurt as much as it did, Alex gave a supposedly nonchalant shrug, turning his face away from the soldier. "Obviously."

Anger boiled up inside Wolf, directed entirely at himself. He was well aware of that, but it didn't stop him from making a bad mistake. "Don't be such a whiny brat," he snapped, "I look after you all the time, if I want a little time to myself and forget where you are momentarily, I think I can be forgiven."

"So you're going to have sex with her?" Alex demanded.

"None of your business," Wolf snarled.

"She's drunk!" Alex cried, staring at the man, aghast.

"What are you implying?" Wolf growled, voice low and eyes flashing dangerously. "That I'm forcing her? She came onto _me_. And if I want to have a few adult pleasures, I don't expect a kid like you to understand."

Alex flinched as if he'd been slapped. Wolf had always treated him like an equal, respected the fact that he'd experienced so many more horrible things than the majority of adults ever would and now . . . Through his pain, Alex found a thread of rage and latched onto it. "Oh, here we go. The heartless bastard from Brecon Beacons has decided to make a reappearance, has he? I supposed it was just a matter of time, really. I should have expected it."

Wolf's face flushed a furious red. "Don't be so bloody childish!" A sneer twisted his face as he hissed nastily. "Play nice or I'll have to send you to your room!"

It was Alex's turn to flush. He could feel the beginnings of fury beginning to swirl around inside of him. "I don't know why I ever thought a dickhead like you could be relied on!"

"Don't speak to me like that, you little – !"

"Don't act like a dickhead and I won't call you one!" Alex shot back, hands clenched tightly into fists.

"Wanting a little stress relief makes me a dickhead, does it?" Wolf's voice was creeping towards a shout as he took a step towards his ward, his own hands mirroring Alex's as they curled into fists at his side reflexively.

"What the hell have you got to be stressed about?"

"Well, putting up with _you_for a start!"

"I thought you liked me company? Or was all that worry about what was happening to me on my mission just an act?" Alex asked, shoulders tensing even more as he waited for an answer.

"No, it wasn't an act, I care about you but you're a bloody pain in the ass! You think I wanted this?" A thread of genuine anguish slid into Wolf's voice, his eyes clouding over with something other than anger and alcohol. "You think I wanted to have a kid saddled with my team? You think I wanted you to come with us in the French Alps? That I wanted to be stuck with you for God knows how long or get to know you or care about you so much? I didn't want you in my life!"

Wolf, panting, felt his anguish increase as he saw that Alex had gone stark white. He hated that look on his face, as if his heart was breaking. "For God's sake, don't look at me like that." He said quietly, eyes dropping from the pained brown ones in front of him.

"You don't want me?" Alex spoke in a near-whisper and suddenly he looked on the verge of tears. The look vanished a moment later, replaced by one of controlled rage, tinged with pain. Growling lowly, the boy launched himself forward, shouldering the elder man out of his way as he stormed down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Wolf demanded, stomping after him.

"I don't care! Anywhere, as long as it's away from you!"

Snarling, Wolf reached out and seized Alex's arm in a bruising grip, yanking him back as he reached for the door handle. "It's the middle of the night; I'm not going to let you wander around on the streets!"

"I don't need your permission." Alex hissed furiously, vigorously attempting to remove his arm from Wolf's vice-like grip. In his intoxicated state, the man couldn't quite control his remarkable strength. "I've escaped from an underground cell while it was being flooded, survived a fight with a member of the triads and outrun two lunatics on snow mobiles while they fired machine guns at me, d'you think I need supervision to walk around the big, scary city at night?"

"People won't see that! They'll only see a child, God knows what could happen!" An ember of worry was beginning to smolder behind Wolf's eyes, but Alex was too enraged to register it.

"What? After all that you still don't think I can look after myself? Can I not be considered an adult until I enjoy "_adult pleasures_" as you put it? Well you can rest easy then, Wolf, 'cause I've enjoyed every experience you have."

"What are you warbling about?" Wolf snarled, his patience at an end. His hand tightened on Alex's wrist and he began to tug him back up the stairs roughly.

"Oh I'm so sorry I wasn't clear enough! Wolf, _I'm not a virgin_."

Wolf stopped. His eyes shot back to Alex's, dimly registered the triumphant anger in their depths, as his mind tried to comprehend the information he had just been given. His grip on Alex's arm slackened a little, but not enough for Alex to be able to pull free. Eventually, the meaning sank in and he found himself speaking without really thinking about it. "You . . . you've had . . . you let someone – "

"Fuck me? Oh yeah, quite a few times, actually. It was a busy week!" Alex laughed humorlessly, with the total reckless abandon of one who believes a situation can't get much worse.

"_WHY?"_ Wolf roared, eyes blazing. He dragged Alex closer to him, his free arm shooting out to seize Alex's remaining one, fingers biting into his flesh. "Why would you do that, huh? Answer me, why would you sell yourself so cheaply? You're worth more than that!"

"Because I wanted it to be _you!_" Alex burst out, no longer able to repress his feelings. "Don't you understand? Haven't you seen it at all? I love you, you stupid, emotionally-stunted moron! I love you so much and I missed you when I was away, all I thought about was coming home and seeing you! And then Richard was there and he liked me and I knew you'd never feel the same, so all I could do was close my eyes and pretend it was you and that you loved me as much as I love you!"

With that last desperate word, Alex lunged forward, tearing his arms free of Wolf's grip and threw them around the man's neck, slamming their lips together, pouring all his ardent desire, all his pain, all his love into that one gesture. Nearly tottering backwards onto the stairs, Wolf reacted instinctively and shoved Alex off of him, sending the boy reeling a few paces so he almost smacked into the front door, as he accidentally put too much power in the movement. Unable to stand it anymore, Alex scrambled to get the door open and flung himself through the space, onto the landing and then down the stairs. He made it out of the building before Wolf managed to collect his thoughts enough to call after him, "Alex!"

The teenager ignored the cry, legs pumping as he franticly tried to distance himself from the man. A single thought drummed through both their heads, beating in time with their hearts, '_I've ruined everything._'

**A/N: The woman didn't seem as drunk in Wolf's part because he was a little drunk too, so he didn't really notice.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hi everyone! As the majority of you have no doubt figured out from my griping in my replies, I've just recovered from a wicked bout of flu (no, it wasn't intentional to drag out my cliffhanger, I swear!) so go easy on me, yeah? That and this is a dialogue-heavy chapter, which is not one of my strong suits, so if it appears jarring in places, I can only apologize.**

**I know I said I would never reply to reviews that have not been signed in ever again, but in this case I will make an exception because this person had a sensible query to point out with chapter 15:**

**B4 U XIT:**** Yes, it is dangerous, but neither of them were thinking clearly at the time. Stupid, I know, but that's what people do.**

**Oh and let me just say that another person who did not sign in made a comment about Wolf being with Alex that I must say horrified me. This is a **_Wolf/Alex_** fic! If you don't support the pairing, don't read this story. That is all.**

Wolf was very quietly furious. He'd woken up with a stinking headache on his far too small leather couch and stared at the ceiling for ten minutes while he waited for his brain to wake up and tell him what the _bloody hell_ had happened the night before. His mind promptly informed him, at which point he decided it would be best to write a quick note and go put his head on a railway line.

It took another twenty minutes until he summoned up the courage to get off his couch, make himself some coffee and wake up the woman he'd brought home last night. She was even more hung-over than he was and thus was (thank God!) not entirely clear on the events of the night before. So he offered her a ride home, which she gratefully accepted, returned to his flat with his front door remaining unlocked, sat in the living room and began to call Alex every two minutes for about three hours. Unfortunately, his message box was now full, so Wolf spent about another two hours after that listening in agony to the monotonous _beep – beep_ and having to force himself not to scream when the dial tone sounded _again_. Oh, and now he owed Eagle an apology for screaming at him to get off the phone in case Alex called when the man had rung up to ask how he was.

In vain, too, as it was nearly five o'clock and he hadn't heard a word out of the boy. Not that he didn't know where he was, now. After the first hour and a half his brain thankfully kicked in and suggested he call Mrs. Harris to ask if Alex had stayed over the night before. On the bright side, it meant nothing happened, but it also meant that Alex was just ignoring him. Not so good.

He was just contemplating getting in his car and going round searching for their house to get a hold of the teenager, when he heard the faint rattle of someone trying to insert a key into the lock with the least amount of noise possible. The soldier went very still, listening hard as the door was gently pushed inwards and tentative steps sounded on the stairs, then receded as the visitor headed towards the kitchen.

He quietly exited the living room and followed him, coming to stop at the kitchen entryway where he saw his ward rummaging through the cupboards.

"Nice of you to let me know you were alive," he tried to be angry, but the words came out timid, something Wolf had never been in his life.

Alex paused. Halting his search, he turned his body so it was angled towards Wolf, but kept his head tilted down, staring at the countertop, as if he couldn't bear to look his guardian in the eye. "Mrs. Harris told me you called. You knew where I was."

"_You_ should've told me where you were!" Wolf countered and was pleased to hear some indignation mustered into his voice. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

"Well, from the hundred-plus calls, I had an inkling." Despite the flippant words, there was no sarcasm or depreciation in his voice. He just sounded tired.

Wolf softened his voice, but an undercurrent of anxiety was still evident in his voice. "It's still dangerous out there for you, Alex. Anything could have happened."

"I wasn't thinking about that."

"Yeah, me neither." Wolf fixed his dark grey eyes on his ward's face and felt that wave of resolve and determination that made him such an excellent soldier wash over him. "We have to talk about it."

Alex gulped inaudibly. "Couldn't we just pretend it never happened? That's what we did all the other times."

"And look where it got us. Come on." Without another word, Wolf spun on his heel and stalked back to the living room stiffly. Alex paused a moment, then sighed and followed him.

They sat down heavily on opposite ends of the couch, as far away from each other as they could physically be. Wolf leant forwards, his elbows on his knees and tried to think of a way to start the conversation. He'd run this scenario through dozens of times in his head but now that the moment was at hand, his mind went blank, an odd and rather disconcerting sensation for someone who excelled in stressful situations. The minutes dragged by, the silence getting more and more awkward the longer they sat there, until Alex finally asked the rather jarring question, "Did you have sex with her?"

Wolf looked at him for a long moment. "No," he said finally, "I didn't. I didn't want to." He saw the teenager's chest decompress as he exhaled. A sigh of relief, perhaps? Other than that he gave no reaction.

"I'm sorry," Wolf said.

"About what?" Alex questioned flatly.

"I shouldn't have gotten angry at you. This is your home too and I shouldn't have brought her home when I knew you'd be here, it was disrespectful. And I'm sorry about the things I said to you, they were cruel and I didn't mean any of it."

"You were drunk." Alex's eyes were glued to the floor and Wolf wished desperately that he would look at him.

"It's still not an excuse and I'm sorry for it." Alex nodded in response, his gaze still averted."I'm sorry I ran out. It was dangerous and stupid, but I . . . I needed to be by myself for a few hours."

Wolf nodded in acknowledgement of the apology, and then cleared his throat. "Is Tom expecting you back?"

Alex shrugged. "I told him I might stay another night, but if I didn't come back, not to worry about it as I'd be here. I figured you'd want to talk."

"We need to, Alex. About what you said . . ." he stopped short, unable to continue.

"What about it?" the boy asked, voice heavy.

Wolf bit his lip lightly, his mouth suddenly very dry. "When did – it, start? You said something about your mission in America?"

The teenager swallowed heavily, a light blush dancing on his cheeks. "I'm not sure when it started. I-I know I missed you desperately when I was gone and when Richard and I were – you know, I um . . . I thought about you then, too." The red in his cheeks grew even more pronounced and his head tipped further still, so his eyes were not visible.

Wolf had to take a moment to gather himself, breathing deeply, "Okay. Fine. So you're attracted to me. That doesn't mean you're in love me."

Alex let out a bitter little laugh. "You think I was lying."

Wolf hesitated. "I think you're a little . . . confused."

Alex gave a disgusted snort and turned his head away entirely. The man continued regardless, clenching his jaw, "Look, Alex, whether you like it or not, you're still a teenager and you're probably going to feel things pretty intensely even when they shouldn't be that big of a deal."

Alex turned back to face him, face incredulous. "I tell you I'm in love with you and you're giving me a lecture on _over-reacting_?"

Wolf flushed, a throb of anger born of frustration running through him. "I know it sounds preachy, but you've got to admit that when you get emotional you might take things a step too far sometimes."

"That's rubbish!" Alex snapped, his voice rising just short of a shout as his eyes flared as well.

"Oh yeah? So you were in love with me when you kissed me in French Alps, were you?"

Alex froze, staring at his guardian's angry face. A moment later, he swallowed and looked away, "I thought you'd forgotten that."

"Nope. Didn't think it would be a good thing to bring up before now but trust me, I remember; that bloody dream really started to get on my –"

"Dream?" Alex interrupted suddenly, head swinging back up to stare at the man in surprise. "What dream?"

Wolf clenched his jaw, inwardly cursing himself. "I was thinking about it for a while after you did it, trying to figure out what the hell you thought you were doing, so I started dreaming about that part of the mission a lot. I can't control my bloody subconscious, can I?" Wolf glared, embarrassed. "Besides, that proves my point, doesn't it? You kissed me in the Alps, but you weren't in love with me then, were you?"

"No –" Alex began.

"So there you are, then."

"I never said I loved you then!" Alex snapped and suddenly, as quick as lightning striking, he was furious. He leapt to his feet to stand over the soldier, who blinked up at him in surprise. "God damn it, you don't get it, do you? You have absolutely no idea. Ever since I first met you, all I wanted was for you to respect me, even back in Brecon Beacons because I knew that if you of all people could look at me and think I was someone worthwhile, then maybe I had a chance. And then we got stuck together and despite what I believed, we just – just _fit_, you know? We got along almost immediately. You were the first one who looked at me and saw _me_, not my age, who understood what I'd gone through and took that into consideration. You treated me like an equal but I still felt that I could go to you if I needed help. Not as a parent, not to protect me, but as a friend, someone I could talk to and trust. You just seemed to get it, and when you didn't, you tried; you worked to get to know me when it wouldn't gain you anything, simply because you _wanted_ to know me. Is it really that difficult to believe I could fall in love with you after all that? I know this came on really, really quickly and I'm pretty overwhelmed by it myself, it almost scares me sometimes, but you can't tell me I'm overreacting or that I'm reading too deeply into simple attraction. There's nothing simple about this. I love you. Honestly."

Clenching his hands and breathing deeply to catch his breath, Alex looked down at the floor. His eyes burned and he desperately hoped that he wasn't about to cry. That would not be helpful right now. Wolf stared up at him for an excruciatingly long time. Gradually, one inch at a time, the soldier eased himself to his feet and reached out, gently laying one hand on Alex's left shoulder, the other hand tenderly lifting the boy's face to look up at his. Alex felt his heart sink when he looked into his guardian's eyes.

"You're right. Your experiences need to be recognized and you're more than capable of being independent. But you are still a teenager, Alex, whether you like it or not and there are some times when we both need to acknowledge that. I can't treat you like a kid. But you can't always be treated as an adult, either. You need to accept that."

Alex closed his eyes against the pain. The place where their skin touched burned and he suddenly felt claustrophobic, an overpowering urge to flee again shooting through him. It hit him, with startling, stinging clarity, what he needed to do. "I think I should call Jack."

He could practically hear the confused frown in Wolf's voice, "Why?"

With an enormous effort, Alex forced his eyes open, meeting the man's dark gaze, "I'm going to ask her to come back from America, so we don't have to live together anymore."

Wolf jerked back from him as if bitten, something approaching horror taking over his face. "What? No, Alex, don't! Don't do that!"

"I can't stay here, not anymore. Not with you."

"You've managed it so far!"

Alex tried to dart around the man, heading either for the phone or the stairs; he wasn't entirely sure. Every time he found his path blocked by his guardian. "But now you know! Being near you every day when I felt this way was difficult enough, but now you know and you don't feel the same and it'll be too painful; I can't live like that! I have to go."

"For God's sake!" Wolf halted his last attempt by grabbing onto his hand, holding him in place. His fingers tightened around the teenager's as he continued, "Why can't you see it? Why can't you understand? Alex, I _can't _be in love with you! Every adult in your life has used and abused you and I can't be a part of that! I need to be the one you can trust, who won't hurt you, who'll do right by you and I can't do that if I let myself feel that way! Instead of doing what's best for you, I'll want you to be with me every day, I'll want to protect you and care for you and keep you here!"

"Why is that a bad thing?"Alex demanded, a definite note of pleading creeping into his voice.

"Because I'm not good for you!" Wolf cried and there was agony radiating from him. "Look at what happened last night. I got frustrated because I couldn't handle my feelings, so I got drunk, came home and had a stupid argument with you when it wasn't your fault. That's bad enough but I upset you so much that you ran from where you were safe out into the night where a madman is waiting to pounce on you the first chance he gets and neither of us even considered it until the morning after we calmed down. It's not supposed to be like that. A relationship between you and I will never work. Besides the fundamental problems like our age difference and professional integrity, our feelings for each other are too intense, it's not normal and I'm beginning to think it's not healthy, either. We've barely known each other, what, a few weeks? It shouldn't happen like that, nothing about it makes sense. I love you so much Alex; nothing I tried to do to bury it mattered. When I thought you were hurt, I was ready to kill someone and I've felt like that before, but never this badly. God knows what I'm capable of where you're concerned because I certainly don't."

It was Wolf's turn to look down at the carpet, unable to meet Alex's eyes, every part of him shining with shame and distress. It took a moment for Alex to gather himself and his nerve. He stepped forward carefully and bent a little to try to catch the man's eyes. They were dull with sadness when he finally consented to look at him. Alex swallowed tightly and, hesitating, reached out to place a hand on Wolf's chest, directly over his heart.

"Listen to me, okay?" He didn't protest, didn't even react. "There is nothing wrong with the way we feel. It's strange and a little frightening and painful sometimes but it feels good too. Really,_ really_ good. Doesn't it?"

Wolf gave him the barest of nods. His heart began to beat thunderously against Alex's palm, belying his stoic demeanor.

"I love you and you love me. And even though there are probably dozens of reasons why we should fight and ignore it, right now, I can't think of a single one."

The hand over Wolf's heart fisted his shirt tightly, clinging on. His eyes darted up when he felt Wolf lay a shaking hand over the back of his, curling around his clenched fist. They held each other's gaze, dark grey and brown, until they both found themselves leaning in, lids slipping down again. It was nothing more than gentle pressure, a light brush of lips but it sent both their heart rates wild. They stood very still, only just connected and then the dam broke quite suddenly. Blood dancing through his veins, Wolf gripped the back of Alex's head, his fingers sliding through thick fair hair, his other arm wrapping around the boy's slim waist and dragging him to his torso, holding him tight. One hand still on the man's chest, Alex flung his left arm around Wolf's neck, keeping him in place as he felt the man's tongue work its way into his mouth and he lost the ability to breath, his lungs deflating rapidly. Neither of them knew how long they stood there, clinging to each other, before they parted, foreheads resting against each other as they caught their breath. Eventually Wolf summoned the will to open his eyes and a smile flitted onto his face as he saw eyes filled with love tinged with lust. He pressed one more light kiss to his lips before pulling back. He dropped his arm from the teenager's waist to capture his hand firmly and, smirking devilishly, lead Alex to his bedroom.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Hey guys! I know you're probably gonna roll your eyes and say "Oh come on, no more drama!" I know I would, but if you're annoyed by this, you'd HATE me if I stuck to my original idea, so bear that in mind, kay? **

******About the whole "**_taking Alex to his bedroom_******" thing, you guys just leapt on that, didn't you? ****I thought you would when I wrote it and I wasn't disappointed. This is _not_ an action movie that is desperate to slip in some nudity, folks! They **_**just**_** admitted their feelings, give 'em some time! ;)**

**And again, I know I said no answering anonymous reviews, but I REALLY have to answer this one, the author of which simply gave their name as "Sorry". I won't put his/her review here because I don't want to cause any embarrassment or ill feeling, but here is my reply:**

**A) ****Sorry, I thought I made it clear, but Sarov was pretty much in the beginning of a mental breakdown when he shot himself, so his aim wouldn't really be good, would it?**

**And B) ****Alex didn't survive because the bullet "**_ricocheted off some bone that only kids have_******". ****To quote Ark Angel chapter two, the bullet ricocheted off of one of his ribs and exited out from under his left arm and he survived because "**_a young person's artery will automatically shut itself down when cut – doctors can't explain how or why – and this limits the amount of blood loss_."** Sarov survived because, as I said in chapter one, his most loyal soldiers were able to remove him from the field and give him emergency treatment until they got him somewhere safe, so yes, he could in fact survive as I said he did. Not that I'm offended by your skepticism or anything, but I knew it would be a wild claim to make, so I checked the beginning of Ark Angel thoroughly as I was writing the explanation.**

**On with the fic!**

Alex felt wonderful; warm and cozy and snug. Something was tickling his cheek, though and the sensation was steadily permeating through his consciousness. Not in an irritating way, just in an I-want-to-know-what-that-is-and-it's-gradually-waking-me-up-way. Alex's eyes slipped open slowly and it only took him a moment to realize that Wolf was gently stroking his face, sitting up in bed and looking down at the boy. A smile lifted his lips as he stared up at the older man, who, bizarrely for him, looked almost bashful.

"Sorry," he said apologetically. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

"That's okay." Alex said, happily leaning his head back into the pillow as Wolf rested the offending hand on the padding beside his ear. A thought occurred to him. "Did you watch me sleep?"

"Only for about ten minutes." Wolf paused. "Is that romantic or creepy?"

"A bit of both." Alex frowned a little as Wolf's gaze moved away from him. The man shifted so his back and neck were propped up by the headboard, his arms loosely crossed over his stomach and his eyes looking out at nothing in particular. His face was devoid of expression. "Um, are you . . . okay?" he asked hesitantly.

"Hm?" Wolf murmured, blinking and glancing at his ward and away again quickly as the boy sat up properly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Your phone buzzed, by the way. I think you got a text or something."

"Ah. Okay." Still frowning, Alex rolled over and picked his jeans off the floor where they'd fallen off the bed the night before, fishing around in the pockets until he pulled out his phone. Wolf's guess was correct, he did indeed have a text.

_Everything okay? Are you still coming today?_

"Who is it?" Wolf enquired casually.

"It's Tom, he wants to know if we're still going to play football in the park today." Alex said, still looking at the phone.

"What time?"

"Noon, we said." Alex glanced at the time on his phone and gave a little start of surprise. "Jesus, it is ten already?!"

Wolf chuckled lowly. Alex looked at him in surprise. There was an edge to the sound that he couldn't quite make out. "Well, we were up quite late last night, weren't we?"

Alex ignored the tingling running up his spine, still recalling the feel of Wolf's fingers gliding over his bare skin and focused on upping his frown to a slight glare. "Wolf?"

"Yeah?"

"The nonchalant thing? Not buying it."

Wolf looked at his sharply out of the corner of his eyes. Alex met his gaze frankly, arms folded and silent. After a brief staring match, Wolf gave in and breathed a heavy sigh. "Alex . . . we really do have to talk about this."

Alex internally commended himself on keeping his jaw from dropping and his panic from erupting. Shaking his head softly, he looked away, down at the duvet again, his insides suddenly feeling all cold and uncomfortable. "I don't believe this . . ."

"Alex, it's important – "

"But after what we did last night?!" Alex cried, his head turning swiftly against his wishes to meet to man's eyes again. "You can't be serious – "

"What we did last night makes it even more important!" Wolf paused for a moment and closed his eyes, breathing shallowly. When he had regained his composure, they opened again and met the teenager's head-on. "I know it's uncomfortable but we have to be practical. This is a . . . serious issue we're dealing with here."

"What? It's not like we had sex or anything!" Alex countered and to his horror he felt his blood rush to face, heating up his cheeks. He was slightly consoled by the fact that Wolf's skin had flushed as well, but only a little. He certainly wasn't as red by comparison.

"I know that! I'm bloody sure I would've remembered if we'd – but that's not the point. The point is that we've done . . . " Wolf trailed off, searching for the right word. "_Things_ – to each other . . . and we've discussed our feelings, I think we're both perfectly clear on that . . ."

_'I'm not feeling too damn sure of where I stand with you at the moment_,' Alex thought but did not voice this doubt. It would only cause a fight and that was the last thing he wanted. Meanwhile, Wolf blustered on, getting redder with every word. ". . . But what we haven't discussed is, well, where do we go from here?"

Wolf broke off his mild rambling to stare at Alex for a very long time. Just as he was beginning to squirm from the scrutiny, Wolf sighed again and ran a hand quickly through his short black hair. "Look – maybe it's a bit too soon to bring this up. Sorry. Um, why don't you – go have a shower and I'll make some tea, yeah?"

Alex paused for a second, wondering if there was more. When the elder man didn't say anything, Alex got up and did as he suggested, feeling just a tad bewildered by the odd way the conversation had progressed.

XXXXX

Forty minutes later, Alex was walking along the pavement towards the park. Wolf was at his side; despite Alex's protests, the man had insisted. "Consider me your bodyguard for the time being," he'd joked. Alex assumed he still felt guilty for letting Alex run out on him the other night, so he didn't push the issue. What he had pushed was leaving for the game nearly an hour and a half early; he'd argued that he could always call Tom when he got there and ask him to come early or just walk over to one of the many restaurants open during the day and get a drink or something, he'd be safe. That and he felt that they both needed some space from each other after the less-than-stellar results of the attempted heart-to-heart this morning, a view which Wolf, thankfully, concurred with. So reluctantly, the man escorted his ward to the park.

They were approaching the underpass, the sounds of London traffic beeping and thundering nearby when Wolf broke the uneasy silence between them. "When you're ready to come home, just give me a call and I'll meet you here, okay?"

"For another talk?" Alex asked sardonically before he could stop himself.

Wolf didn't seem annoyed, however. "Yes, another talk."

Alex nodded ruefully. "All right." He hovered for a moment, then turned to proceed to the green by himself when Wolf's hand seized his arm just above the elbow and dragged him back. His head whipped around to gawp at him. "What – ?"

He got no more than that out as that was when Wolf's rough lips collided with his own. He barely registered being pushed into the shadow of the underpass walls, virtually invisible to anyone who was not looking closely. His hands flew to the man's shoulders, gripping tight as he was pushed to the hard, cold wall, their bodies pressed flush together. A burning began to build between them when Wolf suddenly detached himself, forcing a breathy, barely-there sigh of loss before his lips connected with his cheek, then travelled over his jaw line, down his neck where they lingered on his pulse point. Alex bit his lip to avoid making another embarrassing sound when he felt those lips part and a heavy moist tongue glide over the sensitive spot, followed by the lightest scraping of teeth. Alex felt a moan bubble up in his throat but Wolf brought their mouths together in another hard kiss before it was released. He moved his hands up, releasing his grip on Wolf's shoulders and tried to wrap his arms around the man's neck when he lurched back abruptly, putting a foot of space between them and holding his hand up as if to keep Alex at bay.

They stood there, panting, for several long minutes. Finally, Wolf, straightened up, cleared his throat a tad awkwardly and said, "Okay, um, have fun. With Tom. I'll see you later."

Alex stared at him blankly for a beat of time, then let out an incredulous little laugh and nodded. "Yeah. See you."

XXXXX

Twenty minutes had passed since then and Wolf was weighing the pros and cons of bashing his head against the wall in frustration. Despite the cons being considerably heavier than the pros, Wolf still felt very tempted to do it. He'd paced a route around the entire flat four times already and was no closer to an answer than he was when he'd returned home. The question was a relatively simple one: did he enter into a relationship with Alex or not? The answer . . . was not so simple.

As with the to-bash-head or not-to-bash-head options the cons far outweighed the pros. Alex wasn't legally old enough to enter into the kind of relationship they both obviously wanted, if last night was any indication. Even if MI6 didn't care about breaking the law when it came to Alex's activities, an attitude he was sorry to see his ward had begun to pick up, Wolf certainly cared. What if things went wrong? He was a full-grown man and had felt his share of heartache, but he couldn't bear the thought of Alex suffering that. And the idea that he himself could be the cause was too abhorrent to contemplate. What if his first assumption was actually correct and Alex was confusing feeling of respect and friendship for love? Knowing Alex, if he ever realized that, he'd keep up appearances just to spare Wolf's feelings and out of a misguided sense of gratitude. Forcing Alex into that situation, however indirectly, made Wolf's insides squirm and wriggle like snakes.

No matter how you looked at it, there was a very high probability that someone was going to get hurt because of this – and not just the two of them. Wolf was under no illusions that he team members would be horrified if they were to figure it out, for all the reasons that Wolf himself agonized over. And that wasn't even considering the consequences should his superiors somehow discover it. Abusing a child, even one who was more mature than half the adult population of Britain . . . he'd be lucky just to be chucked out of the SAS. A court-martial wasn't improbable by any stretch of the imagination.

But some reason, that prospect seemed less important than the fact that Alex would be taken away from him. There was no way MI6 would allow him to remain under Wolf's care, they may even go as far as revoking Jack's custody and forcing the boy to live in their thrall. Wolf had the sinking feeling that Alan Blunt would relish the idea of morphing Alex into the future spy he could easily become all the sooner.

Wolf blinked and realized he'd somehow wondered back into his living room. He fell heavily on the couch, leaning forward so his elbows were on his knees, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Oh God. They are not going to react well . . ." he muttered aloud.

"Screw 'em."

It took all of Wolf's self-control not to yelp in shock as he bolted half-way of the couch, turning as he did so. He paused and then sank back down as he saw Eagle standing in the living room doorway, staring at him with raised eyebrows.

Forcing his face into a scowl Wolf snapped, "What the hell? How did you get in here?"

Eagle procured a key from his pocket and held it aloft. "With a key?"

"That's Bens'."

"Picked his pocket." Eagle stored the stolen key back into his jeans and strode further into the room, gesturing vaguely with his hand at the leather couch. "Budge up."

Mutely, Wolf complied. Eagle spun and dropped onto the cushion beside him with a plop. Lazily, he turned his head to meet his friends eyes, "So, I take it you're still agonizing over this mystery bloke we were discussing the night before last, yes?"

Wolf glared at him before bitterly turning his face away. "Yes."

Out of his peripheral vision, he saw the other man nod. "Thought so." There was a beat of silence. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know, damn it!" Wolf was nearly shouting and had to force himself to lower his voice. "What do you think I was talking to myself about? I have so many bloody things to think about and deal with and – and I – "

"You're scared." Eagle said. The way he said it, so simply, so casually, without any inflection, somehow sapped all the strength and anger from Wolf and he felt himself collapse more deeply into the couch, his head lolling back against the head rest.

". . . Yeah. Yeah, I am."

He felt more than saw Eagle shrug beside him. "Don't be."

Wolf turned incredulous eyes on the man. "Don't be? _Don't be?_ That's your advice?" He threw his hands in the air. "Well thank you very much, mate, that's just what I needed to hear! For God's sake . . ." He fumed for a moment before realizing Eagle hadn't moved. He sat still on the couch, staring at his friend while he vented. Perfectly calm, he asked, "Are you done?"

Wolf grunted irritably. "Suppose so."

"Good. Now shut it and listen." Before the indignant soldier got the chance to slap his team mate on the back of the head for the way he said that, Eagle carried on. "I know you're scared, but so is everyone when they go into a relationship that they want to make something of. Something permanent. But I saw the look in your eyes when you were asking me about it and when you agreed to take that woman home." He stopped for a moment to give Wolf a piercing look that sent shivers of guilt through his gut. To cover it up, he affected impatience and made a gesture for Eagle to continue. "To put it plainly, this is not simple attraction; you're in love, Chris. Don't hide behind any of the issues because you don't want to deal with it because, let's face it, you're straighter than a stripper pole," his lips twitched momentarily when Wolf pulled a face at his choice of simile, "so if you of all people are jumping the gender barrier, you're only going to do it for someone very special."

He sat up straight and his face took on a certain serious aspect that Wolf was unused to seeing on him. The effect was somewhat disconcerting. "And we're both aware that this particular person is very special indeed. More importantly, we both know that he loves you too, despite your misgivings."

Terror coursed through Wolf. "You know?" he asked in a near-whisper, peering intently at the other solider.

A secretive, mischievous smile appeared on his face, his amber eyes gaining a distinctive sparkle. The unit dreaded that look in training; it always meant a lecture from the sergeant about decorum or other such things. But now, Wolf felt a wave of relief as his team mate, still with that same smile, said, "I don't know anything, Wolf. Isn't that what you and the guys are always telling me?"

He got to his feet and got to the doorway before he paused, then turned back. "I'm not going to lie to you, mate, there are going to be some serious issues thrown your way because of this. There's something you have to decide before you go through with this: Is it worth it?"

With those words of wisdom, he turned his back on his team leader and walked out. From the creaking of the floorboards, Wolf estimated he was about halfway down when he finally called out to him, "Evan?"

The squeaking stopped. "Yeah?"

". . . Thanks."

He could almost hear the satisfied smirk he was sure was working its way across Eagle's face, "Don't mention it."

The door slamming echoed through the flat. Wolf sat, unmoving, still slumped in the embrace of the worn-down leather couch for some amount of time, he wasn't sure how long, Eagle word's bouncing around his skull continuously.

_Is it worth it?_

And then, at last, he had his answer.

XXXXX

He didn't even see it coming; a detail which would considerably piss him off later, as would the fact that he didn't send Tom a text and ask him to come sooner. A man walking his dog; why had he swallowed that? Why hadn't he seen the purpose in the way he moved, the rippling energy along the animal's spine that only those specifically trained have? Why had he not questioned why a man with a big dog and the entire park shared between the two of them chose to walk so close?

Curiosity may kill the cat, but distraction works just as well. Alex Rider found himself tackled, knocked unconscious, lifted into the car that came screeching over the road onto the grass and taken away in less than five minutes.

**A/N: Uh, I hate dialogue, I really, **_**really**_** hate it! Trying to find different ways to write "he paused" may be the worst mental torture imaginable.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, but well . . . can you honestly say you're surprised? Hopefully this will more than make up for it ;)**

Fox had served in the field many tines with K-Unit in the past, gone through some pretty rough patches with them before his temporary transfer to MI6. Every time something went wrong (as it was wont to do all too often, in his opinion) he, like the others, looked to their leader for guidance and he always saw them through it. But there were occasions when Wolf got a certain peculiar look in his eyes, a sort of dangerous determination, unlike his usual drive. That meant he'd protect his unit. The other meant any enemy who came across him was unlikely to walk away alive.

He had that look now.

Wolf was standing in the Royal and General Bank, a.k.a. MI6's headquarters, his hands clenched into fists so tightly Fox was worried he might accidentally break his own fingers. The soldier emitted an aura of pure malice that kept everyone, including Fox, Snake and Eagle, at a distance of ten feet, minimum. Crawley must've been made of sterner stuff than he had originally thought as he somehow walked through that invisible wall unscathed and, apparently, unfazed, his face professionally blank and neutral.

"Well?" Wolf snarled.

"Follow me." The spy replied, turning on his heel swiftly and walking towards the elevator, evidently expecting them to follow him. With the speed Wolf stalked off behind the man, he was in danger of overtaking him. Not that he would care – besides wanting Crawley to hurry up.

The elevator ride was over in a matter of seconds, but from the tension radiating from Wolf's body, you'd have thought it took hours. Fox saw Snake and Eagle exchanging somewhat bemused and concerned behind their friend's back out of the corner of his eye. He knew how they felt. When the transportation device stopped moving and the doors opened, Wolf strode out so forcefully he almost barged into Crawley. He either didn't notice or didn't care.

He opened a door to their right and K-Unit found themselves staring at the imposing figures of Alan Blunt and Mrs. Jones. Disregarding all sense of protocol, Wolf shouldered Crawley aside and demanded, "Have you found him?"

The two of them were silent for a moment, before Mrs. Jones apparently decided to answer, "Not as such."

"What does that mean?" Wolf growled, very obviously trying to reign himself in. He didn't appear to be too successful at it.

"It means we know where they got him and how. CCTV cameras in the vicinity recorded it." The woman made a small abortive movement towards a TV on the wall of the office, as if she meant to show them the footage before changing her mind. A wise course to take, given Wolf's already frayed nerves. "We rant the vehicle's registration throughout databases and discovered it was stolen."

"So you've put out a notice to the other agencies?" Fox questioned, eager to get some proper answers.

"Yes, but it was a dead end. The local police found it abandoned several streets over; it's likely that they switched cars and backtracked in an entirely different direction."

"So basically you're got nothing?" Wolf snarled. The muscles in his arms and back were so tensed they pressed against his clothing tightly, as if a sudden movement would rip the material from his torso. He was breathing heavily through his nose and his eyes were filled with a dark rage that made Fox flinch.

"Wolf . . ." Snake murmured quietly, an anxious frown creasing his brow. Though he was clearly as frustrated with the lack of progress and as worried about Cub as they all were, he had no wish to see Wolf reprimanded – or worse – for speaking to superior officers as he was. That would get them nowhere. The other soldier ignored him.

"I wouldn't say nothing, Lieutenant." Blunt said stoically, his face unchanged by the rude tone of voice. The slight inflection he placed on Wolf's rank was a mild warning to hold his tongue but something in his gaze indicated that he was well aware that it would not be heeded. Breaking eye contact with the furious man, he nodded to Mrs. Jones. She picked up a remote and clicked a random button, summoning a map of London onto the TV.

"Over the last few months, we've noticed some interesting irregularities in the purchase of property in this area." She clicked another button and the camera zoomed in on said area. Before their eyes, five different buildings were highlighted in red, a scale in the left-hand corner indicating the size of the buildings. "And these specifically came to our attention. They were all bought within a fortnight of each other by a low-key company which background checks would indicate to be fake. We've managed to trace the money transference to the accounts of one man –"

"Sarov," Wolf growled.

"Correct. Obviously they weren't very careful in covering it up."

Fox could've sworn he heard Blunt mutter, "Amateurs," under his breath.

"There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why they were bought – frankly they're all ruins beyond repair. They were going to be demolished to make way for new structures before this mystery corporation stepped in with tempting offers. The only purpose we can place to them," she concluded, turning to face the men in front of her gravely, "is to stall us."

"Stall us?" Eagle asked, his face creased in confusion.

"You think Alex is being held in one of them," Wolf said abruptly, "and the others are red herrings to make us waste our time."

Blunt nodded at him, "Precisely. I doubt they expected us to figure it out so quickly – the fact that we've done nothing so far will give them a certain over-confidence. Our strategy is surprise attack. An SAS unit per building will storm their chosen target according to their own tactics and conduct a thorough search. This is yours."

Mrs. Jones handed Wolf a small file. He briefly looked at the photographs and blueprints within before closing it and nodding to indicate he was satisfied. "Rider is your first priority, Sarov and his man Sokolov, your second. Use lethal force if necessary but try to keep it quiet to begin with. We don't want to give him any warning unless it is unavoidable. Other than that, I leave the operation to you, Lieutenant."

"Understood."

The other three members of K-Unit came to attention out of habit as they recognized the dismissal. Wolf gave a vague gesture that could've been taken for a salute if you were inclined to see it as one before pivoting on his heel and striding passed his teammates to the door. They hurried after him, the eyes of the three spies left in the room staring after them.

XXXXX

Alex waited, laying perfectly still on his side, for his sight to clear up, his eyes narrowed to mere slits so his guards wouldn't notice he was awake. After a few minutes, the blurriness subsided and he was able to take in his surroundings. It was not what he was expecting.

Given his previous encounters with Sarov and those of his ilk, he was anticipating a rotting warehouse in the middle of nowhere or a modern high-tech office discretely tucked away and impregnable in its defenses, perhaps.

He was in his house.

It was too bizarre to believe but yes, the couch he'd been dumped on was the same one he'd sat beside Tom on as they played video games, that hideous vase in the corner was the one Jack had cooed over for a day or two before conceding she should never have bought it and surrounding him was the same wallpaper he'd helped Ian put up when he'd been smaller. Besides their "holidays" that was the most time they'd ever spent together.

He'd stared too long. The man from the bowling alley, Sokolov, had seen his open eyes and was now leaning over him. "Ah, awake, I see," he said nonchalantly, a pleasant smile plastered on his face, as if kidnapping teenagers and holding them hostage was a regular thing for him. Alex wouldn't have been all that surprised if it was, actually.

Sokolov turned to one of the men who'd been assigned to guard him while he was unconscious. He couldn't see his face as his back was turned to Alex. "Go see if the General is ready to receive him."

The man nodded silently and strode off to obey his orders. Sokolov looked at Alex again, his face giving nothing away. "You appear a little distracted, Mr. Rider."

"Just a tad." Alex replied sardonically, pulling himself into a sitting position. The movement tugged painfully on his shoulders. Shifting his wrists, he was unsurprised to find them bound tightly in metal handcuffs. This was going to be tricky. "I've been kidnapped and are currently tied up in my old house with no idea what's going on. Not my ideal way of passing a Sunday afternoon."

A strange smile twisted Sokolov's lips. "I was referring to the fact that it was so easy to apprehend you earlier. Most astonishing considering the our previous difficulties. Are you well?"

Alex didn't even bother to answer that, inwardly scowling at his lack of attention and readiness. He'd thought he was better than that, damn it!

Just then, the guard returned. "The General wishes you to show him in," he announced, jerking his head idly in Alex's direction.

Sokolov inclined his head in acknowledgement. Alex was interested to note the flash or irritation in his eyes and he reached down, hooked an arm around his elbow and pulled him to his feet, guiding him to the hallway. Sokolov didn't seem too pleased to be dealing with people like the guard, who clearly lacked his dedication and professional edge. He briefly pondered what could have motivated the man to consent to work with people who clearly did not measure up to his own standards when the ex-soldier pushed open a door and he was half-dragged into a cold, dark room.

When he was younger, this little backroom had been a sort-of nursery for him, somewhere for him to play where he wouldn't damage anything and when Ian was too busy to keep an eye on him. He used to be in there near-constantly, before Jack came. Noticing that it was the coldest room in the house, she'd insisted that he not stay in there quite so often, despite his protests, for the good of his health. Since he'd gained a companion in her, he acquiesced to her request and strayed in there less and less as he aged. Gradually, it was transformed from a play-room to a storage space where they put old things they might have a use for in the future. Ian allowed it as Jack was wont to keep things and he didn't want his neatly organized garage messed up.

It was almost unrecognizable now.

The large pile of things covering the back wall had been removed, taken somewhere else or thrown out he didn't know, and in its place a moderately-sized bed and what looked like hundreds of pounds worth of hospital equipment was set-up. He was hard-pressed to explain how all of it even fit. But that was not what had his attention. Propped up on several cushions on the bed lay General Alexei Sarov. He looked atrocious.

His hair was lank, his skin papery and deathly pale, coal-coloured circles gauged beneath his eyes. Just sitting up appeared to tire him, despite his attempt to keep his back straight and his shoulders set. A smile stretched his ashen skin even tighter across his cheekbones, skeletal-line in their prominence. "Alex," he rasped breathlessly. "It's good to see you."

The teenager could only stare, partly out of morbid curiosity, partly out of satisfied revulsion. "You're not looking so good yourself, General." He looked around meaningfully at the large display of syringes and tubes set on a tray balanced on a rickety old stool to the left between him and Sarov.

Looking a little annoyed, the Russian clicked his tongue and made a rapid gesture with his hand. "That is nothing. A trifle. It will be put to rights soon enough. Now," he twisted his hand round and made flicking movements with his fingers, beckoning Alex forwards, "come closer. Have a seat." He pointed to a pine chair set in the centre of the cleared space, obviously put there for his use.

A gentle push on his back reminded Alex of Sokolov's presence, so, squaring his shoulders, he stepped forward of his own accord and sat down in the chair. Sarov smiled at him, as if in approval. Sokolov remained at his side, a constant, malevolent shadow.

"I'm curious," Alex began, "why my house? It's a little daring, isn't it? A place MI6 are fully aware of inside and out. Surely with the alert on for you there was some kind of guard posted here on a regular basis?"

The smile on Sarov's face did not falter. "The fact that is well-known to your employers is precisely why we have chosen it as our . . . venue, shall we say. In their arrogance, they would never suppose that we would choose to stay here. And you should not rely on their diligence, we have sent them on a, as you would say, "wild goose chase" through London. Hopefully if should thin out their forces a little."

Alex sensed a double meaning to that final sentence that sent a chill down his spine. _'Wolf . . .'_

Unaware of Alex's thoughts, Sarov continued. "As to the guards, though they were pitifully few and far between, they have been taken care of. My dear friend Sokolov has a contact who is very talented at hacking into secret communications systems. He simply gave them new orders. We felt it wise to keep them alive, for the purposes of discretion, of course."

Alex did not respond. Though he was glad to hear the agents were still alive, he was a little annoyed that they fell for such a simple trick and massively overshadowing that was his desperation to know what Sarov had planned in order to "thin out" anyone MI6 sent after them.

As if on cue, a ringing filled the room. It was Sokolov's mobile phone, which he quickly answered, speaking in English, "Yes?" A short pause as the other person spoken, then he turned to Sarov, who was looking up at him in askance, "That K-Unit has arrived at destination five. Shall we launch the defenses against them?"

"Yes. Kill them."

"NO!" Alex shouted in horror. Without really thinking about it, he launched himself out of the chair at Sokolov, knocking the man to the ground whilst luckily remaining on his feet. He made as if to stomp the phone to pieces, when Sokolov lifted himself partially off the ground and kicked out, shoving him back towards the table on which the needles lay. The impact knocked the tray and its contents to the floor, one of the syringes snapping in two when he rested his full weight against one. He felt it break beneath his foot and faked a fall, rolling the opposite leg out beneath himself and scrambling underneath his crouched form as it surreptitiously as he could with his hands bound.

His composure gone for the moment, Sokolov shot forward and dragged Alex to his feet roughly, brining his hand across Alex's face in a stinging slap that would've sent him reeling back into the chair he had formerly occupied had the Russian man not retained his grip. He used it to deliver two more harsh, powerful strikes, before Sarov's voice called out from behind him, "That is enough, Kazimir! You have made your point."

Sokolov paused, his hand still raised to hit Alex again, his teeth grinding down angrily. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then released the material of Alex's shirt covering his shoulder and backed away, so that he stood at Sarov's bedside instead of Alex's periphery, retrieveing the phone as he went and bringing it to his ear. "Yes," he belatedly answered his agents' question, "full power." Then he hung up.

Alex sat, white in the face, eyes locked on the slip of plastic disappearing into Sokolov's pocket as if it were the cause of all hell on earth. _'Wolf, where are you?! Please be careful . . .'_

XXXXX

Fox held his breath as he watched Eagle and Wolf dismantle the trapdoor above their heads, trying to make as little noise as possible. The scrap of mental barring their way was old, however, caked with rust and heavy. This made it easier to break through and pull it away, but the screeches it made as the edges snapped off into pieces and dragged across the floor overhead seemed deafening in the silence and made him wince.

All four of them paused for several moments, waiting to see if anyone would come. When Wolf was satisfied that their entrance had gone undetected, he signaled at the others to wait and, gripping the frame around the space above on either side, hauled himself up and out. He froze again, listening intensely, before reaching down and assisting Snake's ascendance. The entire unit was soon out of the overlapping tunnels they had discovered and crouching in what appeared to be the basement of the chosen warehouse. Keeping to the shadows, they skirted the edge of the large, stone room, muscles tense as they held their guns at the ready.

Reaching the rickety staircase, which looked as it would never support their combined weight, Wolf made a few rapid hand signals. _One at a time._

Again, he was the first to alight, gently probing at the door in his way. The locked had been busted at some point in the past and the door swung open at the simple touch. Wolf frowned in puzzlement, peering cautiously into this new area. Empty.

At least until he drew equal with a large fissure in the wall that from his previous angle had seemed to be just a shadow on the bricks. He grunted as the enemy launched himself from his hiding spot, sending them both crashing to the floor. Pain pulsed up his arm as he landed on his old bullet wound – the one he got in the French Alps.

_Cub._

From his peripheral vision, he saw two more guards appeared from the narrow passageway and charge towards his unit as he struggled to throw off his opponent. The man was not especially skilled, if the way he was wildly clawing at Wolf's face was anything to go by, but he was bulky and the angle he'd landed at had not only hurt like hell, but also trapped his arm. He briefly wondered if the man had done that deliberately before deciding it was a fluke.

One of the flailing hands in front of his face came down to secure his throat in a tight grip, the other curling into a fist and reeling back to deliver a punch. Wolf waited and then jerked his head aside at the last moment so that the enemy's knuckles collided with solid wood instead of his jaw. As the man cursed angrily, Wolf shifted his left arm under the guard's extended right one and jabbed at his throat. Due to his folded-up position, it was not a particularly powerful or well-executed blow, at least by his usual standards, but it was more than enough to have the man instinctively draw back with a gasp.

The soldier immediately followed up his first blow with a sucker-punch to the gut, this one far stronger than the other. The guard doubled over in pain. Pulling his leg up so his foot rested on the edge of the man's thigh and pelvic bone and seizing hold of his arm and ribs, Wolf threw his opponent over his head so he landed and few feet away, rolling to a crouching position in that same movement. As he looked up, he registered the guard struggling with the knife in his belt before Snake appeared at the man's side and brought his booted foot down in a single stomping movement. With a sickening crunch the man lay prone, unconscious or dead.

The entire encounter had lasted less than ten seconds.

Snake gave him a once-over with his eyes as he rose to his full height. "You okay?" he asked gruffly.

"Fine. You lot?"

"Yeah, we're good."

Two more bodies were lying a little bit away from their companion, totally still. A tiny pool of blood began to pool around the larger of them. "Then let's get moving."

The team quickly scaled the next two levels, as quietly as they had made their entrance into the building. With each passing second, Wolf's shoulders seemed to get tenser and tenser, until he appeared on the verge of screaming from sheer pent-up frustration. There was no sign of Cub anywhere. Wolf shoved the next door open so violently that it nearly slammed into the opposite wall; he only managed to stop it from doing so at the last second.

Because of this, he didn't notice the little flash of light at ankle level that had flared inside the doorway. Fox paused, squinting down at the corner in question. What had that meant?

The other three carried on moving through what appeared to be a leisure area for the guards, littered around as it was with oddly mis-matching furniture. They passed a small round table that could have come out of any IKEA catalogue, a massive, thick wooden dining table that looked as if it belonged in an antique auction and a pine coffee table with dirty mugs that was missing one of its legs before Eagle asked confusedly, "Do you guys smell something . . . strange? Like, burning?"

Looking up at Eagle's prompt, Fox saw another blue flare in the corner of the room. With a sudden rush of dread, his gaze swung down in shock to regard the thin wire that he'd missed the first time. "It's trip-wire explosives!" he shouted.

"Back out the door!" Wolf roared.

The other three rushed to obey him, almost flying down the steps leading to that level. It was a stroke of good fortune that it was a replacement for an older staircase, twisted and unstable, that the guards had complained about until Sokolov had ordered a new one. This was far sturdier than the previous set and made of a combination of steel and iron; industrial strength. And because it was new, it was not built directly into its surroundings – there was a gap between its highest step and the floor.

As Eagle and Fox made to bolt to doorway ahead, Wolf and Snake grabbed hold of one of them each by the backs of their collars and hauled them in the space provided, tiny and uncomfortable as it was. A breath later, the world went to hell.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger last time; I couldn't resist. Well, on with chapter 19! I hope it's length and . . . events, will make up for my gross misconduct previously *humble bow to reviwers* Oh, and I know that Sarov is quite out of character towards the end of this but, well, he's nuts, isn't he? That's my excuse at any rate. Same one for everything in his long rambling speech that isn't logical as well.**

**P.S. My apologies for the Russian in this; I don't speak it (unfortunately) and I've got it off google translate, so it's no doubt atrocious.**

A fireball erupted above their heads with a great roar of fury, the door splintering and firing chips of wood in all directions. The building shook violently, the metal staircase vibrating so it almost seemed to sing. Bits of concrete and dust rained down from the ceiling. K-Unit cringed beneath it all, their hands over their ears to block out the racket and keep the damage to a minimum, waiting for it to be over. It seemed an eternity until the roar finally dulled down and they dared to peep around the perimeters of their refuge cautiously.

"I think that's it." Snake suggested, slowly easing himself out of the cramped space. "Is everyone okay?"

A chorus of assurance was sounded as each member quickly checked over themselves and each other for injuries of any kind. Once that was settled, Wolf stepped forward, taking charge once again. "All right then, let's keep going. Fox, will you scout ahead to make sure there aren't any more traps like that?"

The soldier agreed and, again, the squadron set off.

XXXXX

Alex remained sat in his designated chair, silent and still. Since the phone call, Sarov and Sokolov had lapsed into a quiet conversation in their native tongue. Given it was one Alex had not been taught, he was left free to contemplate his plan. Or at least he would, if his thoughts would divert from the fates of Wolf and the rest of K-Unit for _one damn moment!_

He ran a finger along the needle that had broken off the syringe when he'd landed so heavily on it before. His mind was screaming at him to pick the lock and free himself from his handcuffs_now_. Images of overpowering Sokolov (which would likely prove extremely difficult, if their previous scuffles were anything to go by) and Sarov (definitely a breeze given the man's current physical condition) getting away and finding help, finding the safe house, finding _Wolf_, raced through his head.

. His instincts, on the other hand, were telling him to stay put, to wait for the right opportunity and he was inclined to listen to them, no matter the panicked state of his heart. After all, even if he did get past the two veteran soldiers, who were constantly glancing over at him as if to pin him down with their combined gaze, who knows how many guards were lingering in his house? Could he really overpower them all? And his cheek was still stinging from Sokolov's almost frenzied attack before. He knew that a second attempt at defiance, if unsuccessful, was not going to be forgiven as lightly as the first.

Alex focused back on the man in question completely as he took out his phone for the second time and began to call someone – his associates, presumably. Apparently, they were not answering, as a look of surprise and slight anger flashed over his face, his eyes locked on the device in his hand as if he were mentally ordering it to work.

Another failed attempt made him drop the mobile in disgust. Sokolov stalked around the bed Sarov rested on to an ancient radio stuffed away in the corner. Alex hadn't noticed it before; he watched curiously as the older man began to fiddle with the dials, filling the room with screechy static. '_Did they actually set-up their other hideouts with radio-communication?'_ the teenager thought dubiously. What an old-fashioned – and rather paranoid – idea.

He jumped as, without warning, Sokolov threw the mechanism to the ground where it skidded across the floor, his face angry. From the way he was working his jaw, he appeared to be grinding his teeth. His expression changed to one of vague discomfort as he looked at his leader. Sarov rasped a quiet command, "Idite i posmotrite, kakiyeduraki delayut, Sokolov."

The man in question started and answering quickly, shot Alex a dirty look, so he could only assume it was about him. "No, ser, kak naschet malʹchika?"

"YA budu iskatʹ, eto to, chto drugiye za." Sarov waved his hand, dismissive. Sokolov heisted a moment longer, but it seemed a decision had been made. He squared his shoulders and nodded, before striding out of the room purposefully. He gave Alex a look that sent a chill down his spine. Not as strongly or as chilling as the intention behind his movements did, however. _Where_ on earth was he going?

"It may be that your friends are somewhat more resilient that we had originally counted upon." Alex jerked back around in his chair to face Sarov, after unconsciously shifting to follow the other man's exit. "There is no reply from the warehouse they were lured in. Meaning either my men were also culled by our defenses or they have been engaged by this "K-Unit"."

"Of course they're okay," Alex couldn't stop himself from snapping. A layer of pride laced itself on his voice, surprising the both of them. "They're the SAS, the best there is. And K-Unit is exceptional, even for them. I ought to know that."

A hint of rueful humour wormed it's way through him as, despite the inappropriateness of the moment, he once again registered the irony of his budding friendship with the men who he'd been intimidated by at Brecon Beacons. He had to squash that thought down violently before the thoughts of one member in particular started to hurt him again. It wasn't a good idea to get his hopes up; it wasn't unfeasible for Sarov to dangle that possibility in front of him only so he could snatch it away again.

"You care for them." Sarov stated tonelessly, his face kept carefully blank. "You would be upset if anything were to . . . happen to them, yes?"

Despite his attempts to keep his face neutral, Alex felt his jaw tighten into a hard line and knew he eyes had gone dark without having to see them. Sarov nodded absentmindedly as he saw the expression on the teenager's face. "Vladmiri cared for his men as well." He paused, his mouth working as if he were chewing over his words. Eventually, he said softly, "Perhaps, you will soon wish you had not cared as much."

XXXXX

Wolf was on the verge of punching the wall in rage. They'd scoured the building top to bottom and been there for the better part of an hour and there was no sign of Cub, just more guards that were swiftly dealt with and even they were few and far between. It was an incredible stroke of luck for them that there had been a fault in the fuse. If the explosive had been working properly, they'd have all been decimated as soon as they stepped into the room. Sarov must've assumed that the bomb would finish them off and would have kept as many men away as possible. He needed all the resources he could get, after all.

"Wolf," came Snake's low voice from behind him. He turned on his heel to face his unit and found all three of them looking at him, faces grim and worried. "We've looked everywhere. He's not here."

A cold hand gripped his heart at his friend's words. He'd just been contemplating that notion himself but somehow, hearing someone else say it, _validate_ the theory, made it all the more real. A mercurial mixture of fury and fear rocketed up his spine and he wanted to scream. Wolf tried to remain calm as he asked, "You made contact with the other squadrons, Eagle?"

"Yeah," the man answered, looking more unhappy than his leader had ever seen him before, "Same as us. Nothing."

". . . Nothing? Nothing at all?"

"That's right." Eagle continued uneasily, lowering his gaze to the stone floor. Looking into his friend's eyes as he delivered this news made him feel like his heart was breaking. "The Head's sent a message, too. They reckon that all of it was some kind of elaborate red herring to keep us busy, possibly while they left the country."

Fighting desperately for control, Wolf choked out, "And what are they going to do about it? What do they want _us _to do? Do they have another location for us to check out? Some kind of lead that _wasn't_ set up for them to fall for? _Anything?!"_ His voice had risen progressively louder and louder as he demanded orders that Eagle didn't have until he was nearly bellowing. His teammate just looked at him with sad eyes, shaking his head gently.

Wolf clenched his hands into fix, trying not to stop them shaking and failing miserably. He'd never felt so powerless, so clueless, so_ useless_. All his effort, his determination, none of it was helping Alex and it was tearing him up inside. There had to be some kind of hint they could determine from this place, something that would lead them –

"Wolf, look out!"

The man in question only just registered that Fox had shouted before he was brutally tackled to the floor. He clamped down on his instincts to fight back when he realized that it was Snake who was pinning him to the floor. A gunshot shattered the air around them and he jerked his head around to search for the position of the shooter.

There. An almost-invisible alcove where the two edge of a wall didn't quite match up, a short stretch of space from the final corridor. His hand leapt for his holster as the man popped out again, already aiming, when he was hit by a hail of simultaneous gunfire from Eagle and Fox. Blood spurted onto the floor as he slipped and fell off the slightly-raised stone mount and landed heavily on the grey stone. It was rapidly stained from the pool spreading beneath his body.

Pushing his way to his feet passed Snake, Wolf crossed the space between him and the man with three broad strides, reached down to grip his shirt and hauled him to his feet, the tangle of material around his throat half-strangling him so he emitted a horrid, gurgling sound. He hissed in pain, the blood dripping out of his shoulder and wrist, his arm hanging ineffective by his side, as he was shoved backwards until he collided with the wall. The cold barrel of a gun was forced against his neck and he stiffed up, awaiting his fate.

"You're Sarov's right-hand, aren't you?" Wolf snarled, bringing himself closer to the Russian. "Sokolov. What are you doing here?"

It was an effort to get the words out with the edge of the gun jammed against his throat. "The guards weren't answering. I came to see if you were dead or not."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but we're a lot harder to get rid of than that."

Both Wolf and Sokolov ignored Eagle's comment, focused entirely on each other. "Where's Cub?" Wolf hissed.

Sokolov raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"_Alex!"_ the soldier half-shouted. "I know you took him! I don't care how or why, but I want to know where – _tell me!"_

Sokolov remained silent for a heartbeat. Then, "If you are going to kill me, I suggest you stop wasting your time and get on with it."

Wolf's eyes flashed dangerously and with a dark, almost inhuman growl that rivaled his namesake, he suddenly let go of the arm he'd been using to pin the Russian to the wall, and seized his injured wrist instead, twisting and squeezing so the man's blood slid through his strong fingers. Sokolov let out a gasp of pain, followed by a distorted moan. For all his resilience, he was not a young man and in the later stages of his life, pain appeared to be felt far more deeply than before.

"Where is Sarov taking him?" Wolf demanded, his voice as tight as his grip.

"Nowhere!" Sokolov groaned, his face scrunched up against the pressure.

Wolf frowned in confusion, "What do you mean, "nowhere?" What's he up to?"

Sokolov bit his lip, as if to physically keep himself from giving information. Wolf's face darkened and his bent his captive's wrist so suddenly and violently that a loud _crack _echoed in the mostly empty room. The ex-soldier cried out in agony and slumped against the hard wall as much as he was able to with Wolf hovering so closely.

He breathed in and out heavily for a few moments, then began to speak so quietly that Wolf had to drop his head down a little bit to hear him clearly. "Sarov is very ill and not likely to live long. He decided that he would rather take his death into his own hands than waiting around for the inevitable and he wanted the young spy with him when he did so."

Wolf pulled his head back slowly, a frown etched on his face, the expression torn between disbelief and relief. "That's why he took Alex? Why all this then? Why the chase, the bombs?"

"He was hoping to make something of an impact on the government who ruined his plans and reduced him to such a state." Sokolov replied, his voice breathless but filled with malice. He raised his head so his eyes met Wolf's, their depths totally pitiless. "Beyond robbing them of their so-called "secret weapon". MI6 will have to find another child to use."

Alarm shot through the SAS member. He involuntarily increased the pressure on Sokolov's wrist as a horrible possibility occurred to him, not noticing when the man gasped in pain yet again. "I thought you said he wanted to commit suicide?" he met Sokolov's eyes again and his heart turned to stone and sank within his chest. His voice was no more than a whisper as he said, "Murder-suicide?"

The man didn't answer and Wolf didn't need him to. He craned his head over his shoulder to address his team. "Cub's in serious danger, Sarov is go – "

With his attention diverted, he was unprepared for Sokolov's rapid spring, hand none-injured hand diving into his hidden pocket and producing a hunting knife. Angling his hand, he sent flying towards Wolf's ribs, aiming to drive it up into his right lung. But Wolf was much younger, stronger and faster. He leapt back to avoid the blade, then seized his elbow, twisted it around so that his whole arm was pinned behind his back and threw him to the wall once again, his other hand holding the nape of his neck in place so he wouldn't struggle. Not that he didn't try, thrashing around for a few moments before realizing the futility of such an action and going limp.

As Snake moved in to disarm the man of his knife, Wolf leaned in again, his mouth against the man's ear. "Tell me where he is."

"What are you going to do if I don't?" It was a challenge, but the man couldn't quite hide the fear he was feeling from Wolf's ferocious eyes.

Wolf closed in and said so softly Sokolov almost had to lean forwards to hear him, "You have _no idea_ what I'm willing to do to you for Alex's sake."

Somehow, the veteran soldier thought he _did_ know.

XXXXX

It all happened with surprising speed. One moment he was sitting in the chair he had been allotted, formulating his escape and the next Sarov had bolted upright, seemingly snapped out of the clouded stupor he had slumped into and called for "Ilya!" at the top of his lungs.

The door swung open seconds later and a hulking, stout man pounced into the room. Alex took his profile in uneasily. Arms the seize of iron beams, shoulder's slumping crookedly form what was obviously some kind of past injury, perhaps a broken bone and oddly vacant, almost sightless eyes. They glanced at Alex warily while making an inquiry of Sokolov.

Alex got the gist of the old general's answer when he was suddenly dragged from the chair by the front of his shirt and spun so that his back was against Ilya's chest, those massive arms wrapping around his chest and stomach in a crushing, malevolent bear hug. Even as he struggled, he was unceremoniously dragged from the room. Looking around, he saw about half a dozen raggedy "soldiers" loitering around his old home. A few glanced up as he was manhandled past them. Most ignored him and his captor.

Just as he was beginning to get his bearings, the thug reached the door liking the garage to the main house and threw it open. A brand-new looking dark green Range Rover that definitely did not belong to Alex was parked there, innocently. Picking him up like a sack of potatoes, he was half-dragged, half-carried to the vehicle and deposited into the passenger seat, forced to jerk his legs inside properly to avoid having the door slammed into them. Moments later, the driver's side door opened and Sarov began a painful struggle to climb in, with some far more gentle assistance provided by the man who had accompanied them.

Once he was settled on the leather seats, the Russian turned to his associate, choking out between heavy breaths, "Thank you . . . Ilya. Go and . . . dismiss . . . the others."

A wordless nod, some thudding footsteps and then they were left alone. Trying to block out the disturbingly difficult gasps shoving their way out of Sarov's throat, Alex's brain worked at high speed, trying desperately to deduce what had elicited the change of scene and what it meant for him. He needn't have bothered, for a several minutes later the man regained his composure – or, at least whatever composure he could claim while gallons of sweat drenched his paper-white skin and his teeth ground against each other brutally in defiance of his agony – and said, "Alex. Do you understand why I went to all the trouble of apprehending you? Of keeping the forces who'd seek to liberate you from me occupied for as long as possible? All this despite my condition?"

"Because you'd like to kill me personally?" Alex asked in a deadpan tone. So sarcasm probably wasn't the best idea at a time like this, but that was true of many human defense mechanisms people boasted and he was no exception.

Sarov shook his head gently, as if exasperated. Not quite the reaction Alex had been expecting. "No, no. I think you've been dealing with fools for too long; such an insult, how short-sighted of MI6 to ask you to match wits with foes who are so clearly beneath you. You needn't look at me so strangely," he added, noticing Alex's expression. It was indeed an odd one, a mixture of disbelief, confusion and consternation. "Is it so perplexing that I would pay you a compliment?"

Alex opened his mouth, then closed it again. He could think of several replies to that, but given what he perceived as Sarov's fragile mental state, he decided not to voice any of them.

His hypothesis seemed confirmed when the man suddenly lunged forward, seizing him by his shoulders, an alarming gleam in his eye. It was all Alex could do not to flinch and meet his gaze head-on. "I speak to you now with complete honesty, Alex. I know that you are disappointed in MI6 and dissatisfied, indeed unhappy with your life as a whole. Let us forget what has occurred between us in the past, all is forgiven, I swear to you. I have very little time left on this earth and before I go, I want to be certain that you will change."

"Excuse me?" the phrase forced it's way past Alex's lips, independent of his will. He honestly believed Sarov had lost his mind.

"I need a successor, Alex! It must be you, do you understand? It must be you. There is no one else!"

"What about your mate Sokolov?" the teenager asked, mystified and surprisingly annoyed at his turn of events.

"Kazimir will assist you. He has already promised me that he will show you the same level of loyalty and devotion that he has me."

"Oh, I doubt that." Alex muttered.

"And now I must hear it from you, an oath that you will lead in my stead, continue my work. Think carefully! One day, I predict, someday soon, you will wish desperately that you could split from British Secret Service, free yourself from their stranglehold on you. This opportunity may have come early, it may seem sudden, but you will not regret it. You can be ready, if you choose to be so. Well? What's your decision?"

The atmosphere in the small space was near-unbearable. Sarov's breathing was once again labored due to his enflamed ranting and Alex's face ached with the effort it took to keep it expressionless. Eventually, he took a quick breath and looked the Russian straight in the eyes. "You're wrong, General. I am not wholly dissatisfied with my life. I've found something incredible and I would rather die here and now, at your hand, than live in your stead without it."

It seemed to take a moment for Sarov to comprehend the meaning behind his answer. When he did, his skin went, if at all possible, a shade whiter, his bloodshot eyes grew more prominent and he turned to the car window, screaming, "ILYA!" at the top of his exhausted lungs, high-pitched and strangled, as if the rejection had caused him unbearable pain.

Alex had barely recovered from the sudden shock, wincing, when he heard the garage door open and Ilya lumbered into view at Sarov's side. "Sir?"

"The others?"

The soldier grinned rapaciously and Alex finally noticed the bloodstains that tainted his clothing and face. "Yes. "Dismissed", as you ordered, sir."

"Good." Sarov stated and shot him.

The gunshot echoed in the mostly empty area. Ilya frowned and peered down at the red pool spreading out across his shirt, looking a tad confused at what had just happened. He was dead, slumping down on the dirty concrete, eyes still open, before he figured it out.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Alex demanded in shock.

Sarov shrugged, not looking at him as he manually cranked the window back up and set the gun back into the holster hidden beneath his jacket. "Clearing up loose ends. We're all ready." He gestured vaguely behind him.

Alex craned his neck to see and felt his heart jump into his throat. A long, fat grey hose was squeezed in through the rear window on the driver's side, where he had noticed it. Instinctively, he knew it was connected to the exhaust pipe.

"You made your choice, and I mine," Sarov state flatly. He turned the key and the engine rumbled to life.

XXXXX

Fox clung to the dashboard, his nails scraping over the stiff plastic, as Wolf ran yet another red light. A pedestrian swore and waved his fist after the Jeep angrily as the vehicle came tearing past. None of the soldier's would've been surprised to learn that Wolf's mind hadn't registered the man at all.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Eagle flinch as they came tearing round a corner, briefly mounting a corner and sending a basket of daily newspapers flying through the air, gouging deep score marks in the car's paintwork due to the very brief but significant time it was in contact with the machine.

Three of the four-man unit were nearly strangled as Wolf stomped on the breaks violently, sending the car to dangerously sudden, screeching halt. Without pause, he kicked the door open and threw himself onto the driveway, sprinting to the front door. Snake's shout stopped him, "Wolf!"

He fought the urge to ignore his teammate and go charging in. That never ended well, in his experience. Still, his look of smoldering rage did not abate as he faced his friend. "What?!"

Snake wordlessly pointed to the garage door. Thick, dark smoke was curling out from beneath its edge. Wolf gave a short, sharp hand signal, leaping to stand side-by-side with his unit and, as one, they opened fire with their machine guns, carving a huge semi-circle into the surface with their bullets. Two strong, simultaneous kicks, provided by Fox and Wolf, had the barrier dropped.

For a second, the four men were overwhelmed by the noxious fumes, noses burning and eyes stinging. Then, the evening air provided a reprieved and they stood, horror-struck, at the sight of a crazed Sarov sitting behind the wheel and Cub sat beside him in the passenger seat, visibly green and choking on the poisonous exhausts he'd inhaled. They only had a few precious seconds to look before the penny dropped and Sarov stomped on the accelerator, forcing K-Unit to dive to safety as he sped past them, performed a risky maneuver to turn and bolted away.

Wolf let out what could only be described as a roar of rage. He was in the car almost as soon as you could blink, giving chase before Fox had time to close the passenger door and when Eagle was still half-hanging out of the car, clinging to Snake's arm to avoid falling out.

XXXXX

The deep coughs kept rattling in his chest, making his lungs ache despondently. He tried desperately to clear his head but the fumes seemed to swirl behind his eyes, making it next to impossible to concentrate. Sarov, from what he could see, seemed to be almost unaffected by what he'd absorbed, eyes fixed unblinkingly to the road ahead.

A car horn shattered the fog in his mind and the teenager managed to crane his neck over his shoulder, peering around the edge of his seat to look out the rear window. A huge black Jeep was following them, the distance between the two adjacent bumpers closing rapidly.

Alex didn't know how he knew, but he did. _'Wolf!'_

Scrabbling, his fingers came into contact with the broken needle he'd procured earlier. Before the inhaled poison had begun to overpower him, he'd set the point perfectly, now he just needed to twist just so and –

Cursing furiously, his gaze on the rearview mirror, Sarov cranked down the mirror and plucked his gun from his lap.

_'NO!'_

With that desperate thought, Alex wrenched the thin strip of metal and pulled one hand free. It was all he needed. He leapt on the steering wheel, forcing Sarov back against the seat and knocking his arm so that he lost his grip on the gun, sending it spinning out the window. The Russian soon fought back, snarling in fury, trying to shove him aside and reach the wheel himself. Alex barely noticed the car zigzagging all over the road, the pedastrians in the immediate area staring at them in mortified fascination as they wrestled, or the ground underfoot get rougher as they skidded off the road and into one of London's few designated park lands.

One of Sarov's flailing elbows caught him on the collarbone and his hands grew ever so slightly slack as pain shot through him. He was abruptly thrown off the wheel and back into his seat as the Russian took advantage of his temporary distraction. Alex noticed the ancient oak a fraction of a second before the front of the car smashed into its trunk and the world was filled with the sound and sight of shattering glass.

**A/N: I credit Coronation Street for Sarov's murder method. Only Corrie saga I ever watched (actually, just the final episode this took place in) and it was the only one I ever actually liked. **


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: All right, I shan't prolong your agony. I was going to wait until I hit 230 reviews to post this, but I detect some dwindling enthusiasm for it, so as long as I get that as my total, I'm not entirely bothered.**

**P.S. I shall answer reviews and (for all those this applies to) emails next week as I've been terribly ill ****again ****(I hate my immune system – or it hates me, I don't know!) 'cause honestly this last chapter will be all my brain can handle for the moment.**

Absentmindedness was not a trait typically assigned to Wolf. His consciousness registered almost everything that happened within his vicinity; the smallest detail could constitute survival or death in the field, a fact he knew very well to be true. However, on this occasion, the elite solider found himself staring at a whitewashed wall with blank eyes, not even noticing the coughs racking his body as it adjusted itself to the cigarette smoke it was currently inhaling. A habit he'd picked up in his troubled adolescence, he'd made an effort to drop it when he entered the SAS. He needed his body to be in perfect working condition, after all. But the events of the evening had re-awoken his old cravings whilst simultaneously shutting his mind down. He didn't want to think about it.

One detail. That was all it took, to determine a person's fate. Like the fact that Sarov was in the driver's seat. A full-on collision with an ancient and high tree that refused to be toppled by the modern day machine it was challenged with. His forehead had smashed into the steering wheel with such force that his skull had cracked, plunging bone fragments deep into his brain. Death was instantaneous. He hadn't put on his seatbelt, after all.

And neither had Alex.

Two fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, shards of glass imbedded in skin, a viciously sprained wrist, muscle damage along his back. Quite how bad this was, Wolf was not aware. The word "surgery" had pretty much sent him into his mental cocoon by itself. He was only just aware of Snake's firm grip on his elbow, leading him to a seat with a strange, almost unreadable expression on his face. He supposed it was only fair; he _had_ nicked all his cigarettes, after all.

The mist of dread and despair shifted ever so slightly in Wolf's head and he noticed he was not alone on hard, plastic hospital chairs in St. Dominic's waiting room. To his right Snake and then Fox were perched, the latter fidgeting in his seat, jumping every time a nurse or doctor walked past, the former more composed, sitting with his forearms on his knees and his eyes closed, in his own world. To the left, Eagle was leaning towards Tom, his hand resting on the boy's back, talking too lowly for Wolf to catch the words. The teenager looked distraught and weary at the same time, and very, very tired.

And suddenly, Wolf was angry at himself. Not, not angry, he was furious. He'd broken one of the most important unspoken rules of all and this was the result. He'd let his feelings for Alex, feelings he'd had no right to experience in the first place, cloud his judgement. It was his job to protect Alex and yet he'd acquiesced to the kid's argument about being left alone, because they'd both needed time to think about the arguments and declarations of the day before. _Another_ thing that was his fault. He'd been lucky the first time. Not so much now.

Before Wolf could become truly enraged, the same doctor they had talked to previously approached them, in the customary white coat and grim expression. "Mr. Stephanidis?"

Wolf looked up, swallowing down his churning emotions. "Yes?"

"He's awake now and he'd like to talk to you."

It took a moment for that to sink in and then the soldier was up on his feet and striding in the man's wake as he led the way to Alex's room. Looking back briefly, he saw the others staring at him, expressions of relief adorning their faces. Tom had sunk even further into Eagle's shoulder. Fox made a motion with his hand. _You go on without us._

He nodded back shortly and then tuned into what the doctor was saying again, "Now, he's almost exhausted from everything that's been going on, so I must insist you stay only fifteen minutes, then we're going to give him some morphine so he can rest. To be honest, I wanted to do it immediately, but he insisted he see you first. It's common with trauma victims; they usually want some kind of reassurance from someone close to them. Here we are."

Wolf's breath caught in his throat. Alex looked truly terrible: there were thick bags under his eyes and his skin had a deathly pallor to it, blemished here and there, particularly on his arms, with fresh, painful-looking bruises. He lifted his head with an uncharacteristic sluggishness that made Wolf wince but still managed a thin smile when his bloodshot eyes met the older man's.

He took an unconscious step into the room and completely missed it when the doctor hissed quietly, "Remember, fifteen minutes," and then left the room. In a matter of seconds he was at Alex's side, ignoring the chair placed there in favour of kneeling next to his, bringing their eye line to the same level. He gingerly took Alex's extended hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. It was clammy and slipped within his grip, so he tightened it.

"Alex! Are you okay?" Taking in the boy's expression, he added, "Yes, I know, stupid question but . . . well, are you?"

Alex let out a little laugh that sounded like he was choking and gave him another weak smile. "Yeah. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"I hate that expression." Wolf growled darkly.

"No, actually, you told me you hate it when I say "I'm fine". This is a variation of that."

"Smartass." Wolf grumbled, without any real heat behind it. Alex let out another small laugh, followed by a harsh cough that made Wolf flinch.

"Alex," he began, his face and voice completely serious. "I am so sorry, this never should have happened."

The teenager's brow creased in a minute frown. "What are you apologizing for? It's not your fault, you're not the one who kidnapped me."

"No, but I should've been there to prevent it. It was my job to protect you."

"Well, that's not really your fault either, is it? I asked you to leave."

"Doesn't matter. I knew what my duty was and I ignored it, I shouldn't have left you alone."

"Maybe, but – "

"There's no maybe about it! Damn it, Alex, will you stop trying to justify what I did!" Swallowing heavily, Wolf made a conscious effort to lower his voice. What he had to say shouldn't be open for the general public to hear, after all. Leaning back a little, he said, "There is no excuse for what happened, none what so ever. And . . . I think it proves my earlier point."

Alex went very still as he lay on the bed. "What point?" It was meant to sound casual and politely inquisitive, but came out in a much smaller, more vulnerable voice than he wanted it to.

Wolf hesitated, and then spoke, failing to keep his voice from trembling, "That I'm not good for you. And that we can't be in a relationship."

Wolf looked at Alex and hated himself. He said absolutely nothing, lying perfectly still apart from his visible hand, the one Wolf had just been holding, shaking and grasping at the sheet covering his stomach. He bit his lip sharply and his throat muscles moved rapidly, as if to swallow back his argument. Worst of all, his already scratchy eyes filled with unshed tears; Alex, who never cried or complained was overcome with tears right in front of him and was so shamed by this display of desperate emotion that he turned his gaze away from Wolf to look at the opposite wall. Wolf's heart broke and he squeezed his own eyes shut, in the vain hope of providing relief for his tidal wave of pain and longing.

"Right now."

He did not mean to say it, did not plan it but once those two words crossed his lips, his resolve hardened and he swore they were true. Alex slowly turned his head back to look once more at the soldier. "What?"

"We cannot be in a relationship – right now. If anyone found out it . . . it would ruin our chances forever. So we've got to wait a little bit. Until you're eighteen. Then . . . then we can be together."

Alex's face shifted through expressions of different feelings so quickly that Wolf couldn't keep up. One of the repressed and slowly-drying tears fell from his eyes as they narrowed with his frown. "But . . . why eighteen? Legally, I'm allowed to be in a relationship with you when I'm sixteen – that's less than a year away!"

"And your eighteenth birthday is only three years away. What does it matter? As we love each other so much, we should be able to wait; what's three years when we can spend the rest of our lives together?" Wolf reached over and gently brushed the falling tear from Alex's pale cheek, letting his hand lay there for a moment after. "Yes, at sixteen you can legally be with me, but you won't be an adult, Alex. That's the problem. You'll still be considered a child – and MI6 could barge their way into it. You don't want that, do you?"

Though he immediately grew grim at the mention of his hated employers, a definite light of hope was glowing through the watery sheen in his eyes. "No. No, I don't." The teenager sighed then looked up at Wolf, a wider smile than before crossing his face. "So. Eighteen, huh? I think I can manage that."

He struggled to sit up for a moment and then leant over the divide for a kiss. Wolf extended a hand and pressed his palm to Alex's lips, stopping him. "It's not just that we've decided, Alex. We need some boundaries. Ground rules, as it were. It only takes one careless gesture and it could all be over. If we get caught . . ."

He didn't finish his point. He didn't need to. "So, no kissing goes without saying. Um, no hand holding, probably."

"No hugging?" Alex questioned.

"Oh, we can still hug. I'll go mad if we have no contact at all." Wolf managed to force a wry smile, which Alex returned faintly.

"Uh, what else, do you think?"

"I think we can make it up as we go." Alex said reasonably. He fell back against his pillows and his eyes darkened slightly. "And I think that we deserve one last kiss, before our self-imposed abstinence begins, don't you?"

Wolf did not use words to answer. He simply gave his typical half-smile, placed a forearm on Alex's mattress for balance and lowered his mouth to meet Alex's lips.

**A/N: Well, that's it, it's over! For all those who can be bothered to stick with this series, the sequel now named "Born of Coercion" will be coming out . . . uh, whenever I get round to writing it. Thanks for sticking with me so far!**

**P.S. A number of you have complained about mistakes such as grammar and spelling in my work before, so I've decided that as it is now completed, I'll be going through it over the next couple of weeks, beginning with chapter one and correcting everything. So if you get a message (not sure how this works as I haven't done it before) just ignore it, okay?**


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